US considers tighter export controls on latest generation of dual-use technologies

The Trump administration is considering tightening controls on high-technology exports, including those related to artificial intelligence and other so-called 'dual-use' technologies, as the trade war with China intensifies.

In what may be latest move by Washington to put a stop to what it seems as unfair and highly-damaging trade practices by Beijing, overnight the US government's Federal Register posted a request for public comment on whether various "emerging technologies" - ranging from AI through to microprocessors and robotics - "are essential to the national security of the US."

That would foreshadow a tightening of export controls for such products on national security grounds.

Part of the motivation of the US authorities is to protect its intellectual property from the Asian giant, including to avoid then having it used against it or its allies.

Also included in the list from Commerce were products related to genomics, computer vision and audio manipulation technology, quantum computing, mind-machine interfaces and flight control algorithms.

The US administration has long held that the Chinese state has been complicit in intellectual property theft in an attempt to boost its own technology sector and to advance its development agenda, including its push for greater influence in the region and further afield.

Commenting on the above news, Stephen Innes, analyst at OANDA markets, said: "There's an eeriness about the markets after yesterday's significant sell down on the Nasdaq 100 which toppled 3.25 %.

"The move has investors deeply concerned that Technology is the US administration's new battleground which would make trade wars look like a game of axis and allies as US administration is reportedly laying the groundwork for technology sector trade controls."

At the weekend, a summit of APEC nations in Papua, New Guinea, ended poorly, in what some analysts said might foreshadow what investors should expected from a meeting between the US President and his Chinese counterpart at the end of the month.

According to analysts at Rabobank, there were also signs of a regional 'push back' against China's push for dominance in the South China Sea.

And some analysts also appeared to be very skeptical of the soothing-sounding remarks proferred by the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, at the summit.

In any case, Rabobank said that: "unless [US vice-president] Pence was there to play bad cop ahead of the G-20, things do not look promising for the key Xi-Trump meeting later this month. Markets should start to price accordingly."