The Future of Energy and U.S.-China Competition

As U.S.-China competition becomes a central element of both U.S. foreign policy and the international system, it is extending well beyond trade and security to include energy, high technology, and many other areas. Current disputes surrounding Huawei’s 5G communications products illustrate how broadly and rapidly these competitive pressures can affect important U.S. policy decisions.

To investigate these important issues, The National Interest and Energy Innovation Reform Project jointly hosted a panel of top-notch experts for a luncheon discussion on Wednesday, July 31.

Representing the Energy Innovation Reform Project was the organization’s president Paul Saunders, who discussed his essay “Energizing America” which appeared in the July/August issue of The National Interest. Mr. Saunders served in the Bush Administration from 2003 to 2005 as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs. Until January 2019, he was Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Center for the National Interest, and he remains a Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Center and continues to serve on its board of directors.

Mr. Saunders was joined on the panel by Dr. David Hart, a Senior Fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and a former assistant director for innovation policy in the Obama administration’s White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Dr. Hart also serves as a professor and director of the Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy at George Mason’s Schar School of Policy and Government. Dr. Hart offered comments based on his deep experience with energy and innovation.

Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of The National Interest, was on hand to moderate the discussion.

A report on this event from The National Interest can be found here.

Please also visit the Center for the National Interest’s YouTube page to watch a video of the discussion.