Comment by jampekka
1 day ago
Import substitution. Before the free trade ideology it was quite a popular and (usually) deliberate method for industrialisation and technological progress.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Import_substitution_industri...
But also no external competition causes no pressure to improve.
That’s why the Huawei story seems different.
I think it’s about this attempt to block that actually makes the opponent stronger. The export restrictions were designed to weaken their competitiveness not enhance!
The restrictions blocked asml and Samsung and others from trading with China. Now China can just replace them. It seems.
Seemed to work for the space and arms races for example.