U.S. President Donald Trump's bold strategic approach and efforts to shake up the international order risk pushing an already fragile economic system to the brink, a Chinese researcher has warned, as a final ruling on banning Chinese and Russian connected vehicle technologies in the U.S. took effect Monday.
The ruling concerns a ban on Chinese and Russian-developed software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles, even if they are manufactured in the United States. It is set to be implemented for software in 2027 and for hardware two years later.
Prior to leaving office in January this year, the outgoing Biden administration finalized rules that will effectively bar nearly all Chinese and Russian cars and trucks from the U.S. market as part of the crackdown.
While framed as a national security measure, many experts believe the move is likely to disrupt global supply chains, place a higher burden on U.S. automakers, and ultimately harm consumers.
Given the aggressive trade measures taken by President Trump since he returned to the White House, Andy Mok, a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), said he is concerned that Trump's strategic approach risks placing even greater strain on a struggling global economy.
"I think this has to be looked at in a broader context. So we talked about the potential disruption to American car manufacturers, European car manufacturers. And again, I think it's well-acknowledged that American consumers could suffer as well. But if we look at the broader picture here, Trump is trying to re-engineer some very profound changes in the U.S. political system as well as the international order," he said.
"One of the dangers here is that if you put too much stress on the system, it may break. And again, I come back to this word, 'fragile', which I think describes this approach of banning Chinese hardware and software in connectivity and autonomous driving, but also fragile in terms of the overall Trump strategy," he said
Mok also pointed to the level of uncertainty brought by Trump's so-called 'America First' agenda, which has seen him threaten to slap sizable tariffs on a number of key imports. He believes these continued moves could further unsettle the markets and harm consumer sentiment.
"There's an amazing statistic, something like 10 percent of the wealthiest Americans account for 50 percent of spending. What we've seen also is the tremendous uncertainty by Trump's policies has really hurt the U.S. equity markets. So there is a wealth effect going on here. And if this policy or set of policies really is adhered to and starts really adding further stress on the system, would this lead to some sort of larger economic setback? I think it's a very real question," he said.
Trump's economic strategy risks pushing already fragile system to brink: expert
