U.S.–China Trade and Technology Conflict

China’s Foreign Ministry denounced the Trump administration’s newly opened trade investigation into alleged manufacturing overcapacity in China, Mexico, the European Union and other economies, calling it a 'pretext for political manipulation' and rejecting U.S. claims that Chinese overcapacity exists. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer launched the probe after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s earlier global tariffs, setting up a potential new legal pathway to levy duties on countries deemed to discriminate against U.S. firms. As this diplomatic shot landed just weeks before a planned Trump–Xi summit, China’s National People’s Congress approved a new Five‑Year Plan that sharply increases R&D spending (over 7% annually) to boost technological self‑reliance and leadership in semiconductors, aerospace, robotics, biomedicine, quantum tech and 'low‑altitude' industries like drones and flying taxis. The plan also doubles down on advanced manufacturing powered by AI and robotics, effectively signaling that Beijing will continue the state‑driven industrial model that has long fueled U.S. and European complaints about dumping and oversupply, even as Chinese state media insists 'tech sovereignty is not about isolation.' The combination of Washington’s legal re‑arming on tariffs and Beijing’s more assertive industrial blueprint raises the stakes for another round of U.S.–China trade and tech conflict that would hit American exporters, importers and investors across multiple sectors.