Clete Willems Quoted on China Tariffs and Technology Policies

Akin Gump public law and policy partner Clete Willems was quoted by South China Morning Post for its article, “After House gains, Republicans’ differences on being ‘tough on China’ to emerge: analysts.” The article discusses the approaches and expectations of the Republican Party amid a push for a tougher stance against China tariffs.

Willems, who served in the Trump White House as Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economics, said he believed it to be too “simplistic” to assume Republicans would be likeminded in being “tough on China.”

He also noted, “[T]here is a viewpoint that many of the tariffs are not well targeted and actually have a negative impact on the economy,” he added, “I think there will be an interest in the Republican side in possibly having a tariff exclusion process.”

“You’re going to get a lot of action on export controls and Taiwan, but I think Republicans are more interested in pursuing some of the aims of the phase-one deal and represent more agriculture and energy exporter interests that want to see more exports to China,” Willems added.

Willems was also quoted by Semafor for its article, “China and Twitter are on the tech agenda after midterm elections.” He shared his expectations for Republicans to push for restrictions and work to block data collection by Chinese-owned apps, noting that he does not believe apps such as TikTok will be outright banned, but, instead, may be blocked from government devices. He added that Republicans are “going to use their platform to push for some of the things on China policy where they have concerns about the trajectory the Biden Administration has taken.”