Galvanizing America’s Defense Industrial Policy
This week, Chris, Zack, and Melanie talk about a new report, “Rebuild: Toolkit for a New American Industrial Policy,” from the Center for a New American Security. The United States government has a number of ways to intervene in the economy to advance the national interest. The use of tariffs and the Defense Production Act by the last two administrations, as well as passage of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act, are measures that some argue will help the United States compete more aggressively with China. Should the United States have an industrial policy? What objectives should an industrial policy serve, and how is that determined? How would such a policy be implemented?
Zack gives a shoutout to the Institute for the Study of War for helping us better understand the war in Ukraine, Chris praises Cornell University Press executive editor Roger Haydon on his retirement, and Melanie suggests a good read on how the United States and Taiwan can best prepare the island for a Chinese invasion.
Episode Reading:
- Emily Kilcrease and Emily Jin, “Rebuild: Toolkit for a New American Industrial Policy,” Center for a New American Security, September 2022.
- John Deutch and Ernest Moniz, “How America Can Make Industrial Policy Work,” Foreign Affairs, September 7, 2022.
- Blake Herzinger, “Taiwan Needs Weapons for Day One of a Chinese Invasion,” Foreign Policy, September 8, 2022.
- Marcus Weisgerber, “US Should Place Multiyear Munitions Orders to Protect Supply, Pentagon Arms Chief Says,” Defense One, September 9, 2022.
- Betty Hou and Stephen Stapczynski, “Energy-Efficient Computer Chips Need Lots ofPower to Make,” Bloomberg, August 25, 2022.
- Colin Grabow, “New England Governors Seek Jones Act Relief as Spike in Winter Heating Bills Looms,” CATO Institute, August 26, 2022.
- Bryan Bender, “The Struggling Arkansas Town That Helped Stop Russia in Its Tracks,” Politico, September 9, 2022.
- Eric Schmidt and All Bajraktari, “America Could Lose the Tech Contest With China,” Foreign Affairs, September 8, 2022.
- Tai Ming Cheung and Thomas G. Mahnken, “The Grand Race for Techno-Security Leadership,” War on the Rocks, August 31, 2022.
- Institute for the Study of War, “Ukraine Conflict Updates”.
- Derek Thompson, “A Simple Plan to Solve All of America’s Problems,” The Atlantic, January 12, 2022.
- “Ezra Klein on the Future of Supply-Side Liberalism,” Bloomberg Odd Lots, September 8, 2022.
Image: The White House