On October 15, a statement by U.S. Treasury Secretary Brian Bensons at the CNBC "Invest in America" forum completely tore off the mask of the long-claimed "free market" of the United States.

That day, Bensons bluntly stated that in the face of an economy like China's, industrial policies must be used, and claimed that the Trump administration is seeking to strengthen control over key strategic sectors of American companies to respond to China's new economic measures.

In other words, the United States is preparing to copy China's approach to "contain China," which is truly nothing short of astonishing.

It is well known that the United States has always touted "free markets" and "open investment," and often mocks other countries' industrial policies as "market interference." Now, however, it is ready to pick up the tool of "government intervention."

The reason for the United States' urgent shift lies in China's dominant position in areas such as rare earths and critical minerals, which have become a "major concern" for the United States.

Especially, China's announcement last week to upgrade its controls on rare earths became the direct justification for the U.S. treasury secretary's statement that "the enterprise control must be strengthened."

He said that upon seeing China's rare earth announcement, it should be clear that they can no longer be passive; either the United States itself needs to build a supply chain and achieve self-sufficiency in rare earths, or partner with allies to secure supply, in any case, it must get rid of the current dependence.

In fact, the Trump administration has already taken action:

American Steel, Intel, and rare earth mining companies have all been invested in by the government, and the government requires taking a cut from the sales of chips in China by NVIDIA and AMD, and has identified seven strategically significant industries, which may be more strictly regulated in the future.

"Nikkei Asia" also disclosed that the United States is busy investing in mining companies to build domestic supply chains, aiming to reduce reliance on China's critical resources, and even the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy are starting to interfere with private enterprises.

It should be noted that this approach was previously only used in times of full emergency, relying on special laws that allow the government to directly invest in important defense enterprises.

Bensons emphasized that building a "strategic mineral reserve" is the most urgent task at present, and also revealed that JPMorgan Chase is also interested in cooperating with the government.

It must be mentioned that the industrial policy of "government controlling private enterprises" that Bensons is now promoting was once something he looked down on.

Last year, for example, during a speech at the Manhattan Institute, he ridiculed the Biden administration's subsidies for key areas like semiconductors, calling it "central planning," with clear condescension.

Moreover, he criticized China, saying that "we cannot let China control the global supply chain," adopting a posture of moral superiority on the "free market," which is now extremely ironic compared to the current situation.

It is worth noting that analysts point out that it is not easy for the Trump administration to "embrace" industrial policy now.

The United States has not touched industrial policy for over forty years. Now, even if it wants to start, it is unclear how to proceed or how to implement the policy effectively, as it may not have a clear plan itself.

Even the CEO of the American mineral mining company Neo Material Technologies couldn't help but admit, "It takes 29 years to open a rare earth mine in the United States," which just reveals one of the difficulties in rebuilding the supply chain.

It can only be said that the United States will find it difficult to overcome many obstacles in reality if it wants to rely on industrial policy to reduce its dependence on China's rare earths.

More importantly, the advantages that China has formed in areas such as rare earths and new energy are backed by decades of technical accumulation, complete industrial chain support, and long-term integration of market demand and policy guidance.

In summary, the United States may be able to learn the "form" but not the "essence," and industrial policy is not something that can be achieved simply by copying the "homework."

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7561644608082412074/

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