But, then, the idea of America as a bastion of the free market, whose corporations achieved global success simply by relying on the animal spirits of capitalism and the sheer ingenuity of garage inventors à la Steve Jobs, is largely a myth. Everyone knows that Silicon Valley’s transformation into a hotbed of innovation, and the subsequent rise of the US tech industry, was made possible thanks to massive funding from the US government and military during the Cold War. Elon Musk is only the latest in a line of supposedly self-made garage inventors who have actually built their tech empire with the help of billions of dollars in US government subsidies. Just last year Tesla received $7.5 billion from the US government.

China, then, isn’t really doing anything different from what the US has always done. But America is riled because China is winning. And having taken up the role of “free trade” defender — accusing the Biden administration of “imped the normal functioning of global industrial and supply chains” — Beijing is forcing the US to take an increasingly protectionist stance.

This peculiar reversal of roles is paradigmatic of the significant global economic and geopolitical power shift underway. “Free trade” generally tends to benefit the dominant economic power, at the expense of weaker economies. It is no coincidence that the US began preaching “free trade” only after it achieved economic dominance, in the mid-20th century, after resorting to heavily protectionist measures to support its manufacturing sectors, just as Britain had done before it.

When Donald Trump introduced a series of tariffs on Chinese goods, just over five years ago, Joe Biden was among his fiercest critics. Trump, he said, was “crushing” American farmers, workers and consumers by sparking an “irresponsible trade war”, and he vowed to reverse his “senseless policies”. But once in power, Biden did the exact opposite: he actually strengthened Trump’s protectionist policies, launching “a full-blown economic war on China”.

Last week, that war escalated to near-nuclear level as the White House announced massive tariff hikes on a raft of Chinese imports — including 25% on steel and aluminum, 50% on semiconductors and solar panels, and a staggering 100% on electric vehicles (EVs). The move, they say, is in response to “China’s unfair trade practices”. The US accuses Beijing of using hefty government subsidies to flood global markets with artificially low-priced exports. By imposing its swingeing tariffs, the US hopes to create “a level playing-field in industries that are vital to our future”, and “ensure America leads the world” in these sectors.

It’s pretty ironic that Biden is attempting to level the playing-field by embracing similar tactics to Beijing. His administration’s much-vaunted Inflation Reduction Act includes almost $400 billion in subsidies (through grants, loans and tax credits) aimed at boosting the US cleantech sector. So Biden’s attempts to paint China as a rogue nation using “non-market practices” to “game the system” seem driven by fear that the Chinese subsidies risk nullifying the effect of America’s own subsidies. (...)

Reuters was unable to determine the impact of the secret operations or whether the administration of President Joe Biden has maintained the CIA program. Kate Waters, a spokesperson for the Biden administration’s National Security Council, declined to comment on the program’s existence or whether it remains active. Two intelligence historians told Reuters that when the White House grants the CIA covert action authority, through an order known as a presidential finding, it often remains in place across administrations.