Industrial Strategy
Investing in Allied Competitiveness
“Industrial strength has always been the backbone of freedom’s durability. Democracies that make together can stand together.”
Kennedy visiting Milltronics as a Congressman.
Industrial Policy for an Age of Strategic Competition
- Industrial policy is no longer an economic footnote — it is a strategic necessity. In a world where state-backed competitors blend commerce and coercion, democracies must ensure that their economic systems remain both competitive and legitimate.
- An effective industrial strategy bolsters domestic capacity, accelerates innovation, and ensures the free world remains the partner of choice in global trade. It links economic vitality to democratic purpose — proving that open societies can deliver prosperity, security, and fairness faster than autocratic ones.
- This is the essence of being Made in Democracy. It’s not about protectionism; it’s about production with principles — investing in industries, infrastructure, and innovation that reflect transparency, accountability, and allied trust.
The Case for Democratic Industrial Renewal
- After decades of prioritizing efficiency over resilience, the free world faces a simple truth: supply chains optimized for cost alone are fragile by design.
- Industrial renewal begins by aligning markets and missions — combining private ingenuity with public purpose to strengthen the democratic world’s economic foundation.
- A modern industrial strategy must:
- Rebuild domestic capacity in sectors vital to national security — from semiconductors to clean energy.
- Link incentives to alliances, ensuring that reshoring strengthens, not isolates, global partnerships.
- Invest in innovation, sustaining research, education, and technology that expand freedom’s frontier.
- Turn fairness into advantage, leveraging open markets, rule of law, and transparency as competitive assets.
Aligning Policy With Partnership
- Democratic industrial policy succeeds when it strengthens allies, not divides them. Coordinating investment and trade rules prevents subsidy wars and builds confidence that shared prosperity will not come at a partner’s expense. Policies that balance domestic renewal with allied inclusivity demonstrate that democracies can act strategically without abandoning openness.
- Whether through clean-energy partnerships, or semiconductor alliances, industrial strategy must reflect one guiding test:
- Does it reinforce trust among democracies, or erode it?
That alignment — opportunity with trust — is the core of resilience.
Insights & Engagements
🏛️ Engaging Administration or Congress, 📰 Op-Ed / Article / Quoted 🎙️ Podcast ✍️ Policy Brief / Blog Post 👥 Roundtable / Event 🎤 Speaking 🎥 TV/Video 🌐 Global
- 🎤 Speech - Economic Warfare - Foreign Policy Association's Great Decisions Program - March 20, 2023
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