Are We Ready? | The U.S.-China Chip War, With Chris McGuire

The President’s Inbox

Council on Foreign Relations

Politics, News:politics, News

4.4 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chris McGuire, senior fellow for China and emerging technologies at the Council, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss whether U.S. efforts to deny China advanced semiconductor chips will sustain the U.S. lead in artificial intelligence or unintentionally accelerate Chinese innovation. This is the fifth episode in a special series from The President’s Inbox, bringing you conversations with Washington insiders to assess whether the United States is ready for a new, more dangerous world. Mentioned on the Episode: Bethany Allen and Jenny Wong Leung, "Trump's Crackdown on Chinese Students Ignores a Startling New Reality," New York Times Raffaele Huang, "Chinese Officials Urge Firms to Shun Nvidia AI Chip," Wall Street Journal Arjun Kharpal, "China’s Key Weapons in Its AI Battle With the U.S.—Massive Huawei Chip Clusters and Cheap Energy," CNBC For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/tpi/are-we-ready-us-china-chip-war-chris-mcguire

Transcript

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0:00.0	The world has turned dangerous.
0:05.0	Is the United States prepared to meet the new challenges it might face?
0:08.0	In this special series from the President's inbox,
0:11.0	we're bringing you conversations with Washington insiders
0:14.0	to assess whether the United States is ready for a new, more dangerous world.
0:24.2	For decades, the United States was the world's technological powerhouse.
0:28.8	American universities and firms led the globe and scientific breakthroughs
0:32.6	that revolutionized the way we live in work.
0:35.3	However, Chinese firms and universities now rival, if not surpass, their American counterparts
0:40.3	in many areas.
0:41.3	One recent study concluded that China leads in 57 of 64 critical new technologies.
0:47.3	As China's dominance of critical minerals shows, Beijing can potentially weaponize
0:52.3	its technological advantages against the United States and its
0:55.8	allies. Washington has responded to the China challenge in part by imposing export controls,
1:01.2	licensing restrictions, and technology sanctions, especially when it comes to the advanced
1:06.1	semiconductor chips needed to power the AI revolution. The goal of these moves is to slow Chinese innovation,
1:12.8	particularly innovation that would enable the Chinese military to close the gap with the United States.
1:18.2	But are U.S. restrictions working, or just forcing China to innovate even more? Would other policies
1:23.7	do more to sustain America's technological prowess, and will escalating tensions
1:28.2	over technology further inflamed tensions between Washington and Beijing.
1:33.9	From the Council on Foreign Relations, welcome to the president's inbox. I'm Jim Lindsay.
1:40.1	Joining me for today's discussion is Chris McGuire, a senior fellow for China and emerging technologies here at the Council and a former deputy senior director for technology and national security on the staff of the National Security Council.
	...

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