Good evening. It might not be as well-known as Huawei or TikTok, but DJI is perhaps more interesting when it comes to the debate over banning wildly popular Chinese products in America. This is mostly because DJI drones are beloved by U.S. police forces and first responders who insist U.S. lives will be lost if a ban goes into effect this year. Our cover story this week profiles the world’s largest drone manufacturer and examines how it found itself at the center of one of America’s most urgent national security debates.
Elsewhere we have an infographic on TikTok’s long, winding road to D-Day; an interview with Elizabeth Economy on what the U.S. should want from China; a reported piece on China’s plan to cut its renewable energy waste; and an op-ed from George Magnus on the Trump tariff challenge for multinational companies. If you’re not already a paid subscriber to The Wire, please sign up here.
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Is DJI Done?
The most popular drone company in the world is fighting for its future in America with one hand tied behind its back. Brent Crane reports.
The Big Picture: The Road to TikTok’s D-Day
On Friday President Donald Trump said he would extend a ban on TikTok by an additional 75 days, adding yet another inflection point to the company’s long saga. This week’s infographic by Noah Berman retraces the many twists and turns in the five-and-a-half year battle between the American government and TikTok.
A Q&A with Elizabeth Economy
Before joining the Biden administration in 2021 for a two-year stint as senior China advisor to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Elizabeth Economy had a long and distinguished career as a China watcher and writer. Her 2018 book, The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State, details how Xi accumulated power in his quest to compete, if not surpass, the United States. At Commerce, she helped Raimondo develop parts of the administration’s main economic outreach to Asian nations, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. She is now Senior Fellow and co-chair of the Program on the U.S., China, and the World at the Hoover Institution. In this interview with Bob Davis, she talks about what she tried to achieve in government and what Trump is getting right and wrong about China.
Elizabeth Economy
Illustration by Kate Copeland
China Aims to Cut the Renewable Energy Waste
A new pricing plan should make China’s wind and solar power cheaper than coal-based electricity, although more reforms are still needed. Yi Liu reports.
The Trump Tariff Challenge for Multinational Companies
With the U.S. emulating China’s protectionism, George Magnus argues in this week’s op-ed, global firms face tricky decisions over where to invest.
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