Technology: how the US, EU and China compete to set industry standards

There is a first-mover advantage for whoever writes the new rules for the digital economy

Alan Beattie in Brussels

The first wave of Donald Trump’s trade war on China, punitive tariffs on $250bn of its exports, rivals the brutal protectionism of the Depression. But at least supply chains for basic goods and commodities can be re-established relatively quickly once the barriers are removed.

Phase two of the president’s campaign — citing national security imperatives to try to drive Chinese companies like Huawei out of tech supply chains — could leave a much longer-lasting mark.

Mr Trump’s move is a massive escalation of the struggle that has endured for years between rival companies and governments in the US and China to control the standards and technologies of the digital economy. The battlefront of that conflict now stretches from establishing market dominance to setting industry standards to influencing regulation.

But the US and China are not the only players in the game. Despite its underpowered tech sector, the third great trading power, the EU, has big ambitions as a rulemaker. European officials are quietly confident that, as with the “Brussels effect” whereby EU rules on cars, chemicals and food have adopted around the world, so its regulatory process will play a large role in shaping the global digital economy.

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continua qui: https://www.ft.com/content/0c91b884-92bb-11e9-aea1-2b1d33ac3271