Lawmakers meet with Apple, Disney CEOs as part of talks on competition with China

In a phone interview partway through the trip on Thursday, Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., said she saw common themes between the sorts of challenges the tech and media industries face when it comes to China and those facing the automotive industry in her home state.

“Every meeting we’ve been in, in my opinion, has related back to Michigan’s economy and our ability to manufacture as a country,” Stevens said. “One of the themes that I came into the committee with as a manufacturing champion and as someone who understands the interrelatedness between manufacturing and tech is: What else do we need to do to incentivize and grow industrial policy in the United States of America?” Stevens said. She pointed to the passage of the Chips and Science Act as an example of incentivizing domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

“Now, we’re looking at other areas specific to supply chain vulnerabilities and weaknesses that are going to impact our economy and, aside from chips, we want to be competitive in quantum and artificial intelligence,” Stevens said.