U.S. explores working with India to increase economic competition against China, says Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo

WASHINGTON — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Wednesday that the U.S. is considering collaborating with India connected definite manufacturing jobs successful bid to boost contention against China.

Raimondo told Jim Cramer connected CNBC's "Mad Money" that she volition sojourn India successful March with a fistful of U.S. CEOs to sermon an confederation betwixt the 2 nations connected manufacturing semiconductor chips. The Commerce Secretary besides revisited immoderate of President Joe Biden's comments connected American manufacturing from his State of the Union address connected Tuesday.

"We stopped making things," Raimondo said. "I think, successful 1990, determination were similar 350,000 radical moving successful the spot manufacture successful America. Now it's similar 160,000."

Biden's CHIPS and Science Act, signed into instrumentality successful August, supplied $52 cardinal for U.S. companies to put successful spot manufacturing. The U.S. semiconductor manufacture employed much than 277,000 workers successful 2021, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, but it made 0% of the world's supply of semiconductors arsenic of September 2022.

In comparison, Taiwan and South Korea comprise 80% of the planetary foundry market for chips. TSMC, the world's astir precocious chipmaker, is besides headquartered successful Taiwan. But a collaborative effort betwixt the U.S. and the Indo-Pacific "quad" portion could lessen the planetary reliance connected Taiwanese semiconductors. In September 2021, India, Japan and Australia announced plans to found a semiconductor proviso concatenation inaugural to unafraid entree to semiconductors and their components.

Raimondo said that India is "making a batch of the close moves."

"It's a ample population. (A) batch of workers, skilled workers, English speakers, a antiauthoritarian state regularisation of law," she said.

But the Commerce Secretary said the southeast Asian federation indispensable comply with labour standards arsenic portion of immoderate deal, particularly successful airy of India's depletion of Russian oil. The G-7 countries, Australia and the European Union person issued price caps connected the outgo of Russian lipid products to restrict the Kremlin's entree to a imaginable backing root for its warfare connected Ukraine portion inactive maintaining an lipid proviso connected the planetary market.

"I'm moving the Indo-Pacific economical framework," Raimondo said. "So we person 13 countries including India. And we're saying to them, look, motion up astatine the government-to-government level to labour standards, biology standards, anti-corruption standards, regularisation of instrumentality standards. And successful return, it'll unlock U.S. business, U.S. superior jobs successful India."

Raimondo besides said she supports reinvesting the wealth from Biden's 1% excise tax connected banal buybacks for large businesses into the economy. Buybacks entreaty to immoderate of the nation's largest investors and corporations.

"I'm powerfully with the President that we ought to rise taxes connected the wealthiest and connected corporations adjacent immoderate loopholes and instrumentality that wealth and marque investments," she said. "You privation women to spell backmost to work? Childcare (has to) beryllium provided, it's excessively expensive. So, we request to rise taxes successful immoderate ways and past marque investments to marque the system stronger."