“Giving Up on Export Controls Is Giving Up on the Tech Race”

U.S. faces “a wider set of threats from adversaries… than it did from the Soviet Union,” warn Navin Girishankar and Matt Borman, citing China’s civil-military fusion and “malign and mercantile tactics” to seize tech leadership.  

Critics overstate lost sales, they argue: “The real risk is… allowing China to reach the frontier faster… and displace American products.” Controls, even with circumvention, “raise costs, slow timelines, and create friction,” keeping China’s chipmaking behind despite massive subsidies.

Export controls are “a tool, not a strategy,” needing clear goals, allied coordination, and BIS resources. Using them as bargaining chips, they caution, makes them “transactional rather than principled.”

The two former BIS leaders published their essay on the CSIS website, where they participate in the Economic Security and Technology Department.  (Borman has also entered private practice at Akin Gump).   [Link]