Duel Use Restrictions

China accused the United States on Thursday of being an overly protectionist and uncooperative trading partner and urged it to loosen its high technology export controls if it wants to bring down its trade deficit with Beijing.

The United States reported a trade deficit of $235 billion with China last year, a figure that is expected to grow.

China is whining about export controls on duel use items, and it has a point. There is great frustration among some US businesses that they are prohibited from selling to the Chinese what their competitors in Australia and Europe are already selling.

If technology used in a sophisticated fire truck could potentially be used for military operations, the CIA and State Department put that duel use item on a restricted list without regard for whether the same technology is already being used in China or is being sold to the Chinese through another source.

Duel use issues generally don't come under congressional scrutiny. They don't have the time or expertise to determine whether technology is or isn't available. That falls to the generally unaccountable State Department/Pentagon.

Getting something off the restricted list is an arduous process. China is of course being a bit disingenuous for implying that restrictions on duel use items are to blame for the trade imbalance. Duel use items that should probably be unrestricted made up a small portion of trade overall.