- 著者
-
杉之原 真子
- 出版者
- 一般財団法人 日本国際政治学会
- 雑誌
- 国際政治 (ISSN:04542215)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.2022, no.205, pp.205_45-205_60, 2022-02-04 (Released:2022-03-31)
- 参考文献数
- 60
This study aims to shed light on the reality of economic statecraft under the Trump administration by examining the formation of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) of 2018. For effective economic statecraft, the state as a unitary actor need to set a clear goal and pursue it in a concerted manner. Does this assumption hold in economic policymaking, where conflicting interests often collide?FIRRMA is primarily aimed to restrict China’s access to U.S. technology in order to contain the country’s rapid technological development. It is an effort to use American economic power to maintain US hegemony by limiting the operation of Chinese companies on the US soil, especially in the high-tech industries. At first glance, the bill seems to have been passed smoothly with a bipartisan support in Congress and with the full approval of the legislative branch, both of which came to take increasingly hardline stance toward China. They did so without being pushed by the public opinion or economic interests of their constituencies. This can be interpreted as a case in which policymakers came together to exercise economic statecraft in order to protect “national interest” in the face of the rising China threat, as Neorealism predicts.However, a close examination of the preferences and motives of each actor involved in the policymaking process reveals that the U.S. hardline policy toward China on inward investment was based on a combination of various motives and conditions. As there exists no firm consensus within the U.S. authority on detailed goals, it is highly likely that China’s actions or changes in the U.S. economic situation will lead to a loss of policy unity. It also shows the fundamental weakness of the foundation of economic statecraft, as economic policies usually involve a wide range of interests and preferences.In the long run, the strengthening of regulations on foreign investment could weaken the U.S. economic power, which is the base of its hegemony. Therefore, the case of regulations on inward investment also highlights such double-edged nature of economic statecraft: overuse of economic power can undermine the very source of power.