The real problem is that the US has shown their hand: theo willingness to use sanctions purely for economic purposes makes those sanctions not only useless in the long run, but detrimental to the American goal of maintaining globalization (and thus reliance on American technology). I guarantee you that India is currently asking itself how it can develop a strong domestic semiconductor industry and that the African Union is trying to secure semiconductor supply from multiple players right now.

In fact, this crosses beyond semiconductors and into every technology that the West currently dominates. Aircraft, engines, materials science, pharmaceuticals... the weaponization of sanctions has pushed and will continue to push the world towards a deglobalized, multipolar entity where domestic capabilities are prized once again. In fact, I expect a mass hiring of PhD students into the Chinese academic system soon to elevate China's research capability while stealing talent away from the US.

Biden knew all of this. Why do it, then?