Summary: Japan’s auto industry is struggling against fierce competition from Chinese companies, leading to mergers like the one between Nissan and Honda. This situation highlights a broader issue, as both Japan and the U.S. risk losing leadership in key physical technologies related to electricity, such as batteries and electric motors. If these technologies are framed only as climate issues, rather than as matters of national power, the U.S. may continue to fall behind.
As Paul Kennedy wrote in The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, the power of nations has historically hinged on their ability to master the key technologies of the day, whether that was gunpowder and sailing ships, modern taxation and bureaucracy, or mass manufacturing. (View Highlight)
Americans on both political sides have essentially agreed to frame emerging electrical technologies as being fundamentally about climate change, instead of about national power and prosperity. This is a dangerous misconception. (View Highlight)