The threat to U.S. critical infrastructure posed by foreign state-owned enterprises is real and America is not doing enough to inoculate itself against it and effectively manage the risk to our economic and national security.
The issue has come up repeatedly in connection with major U.S. rail and transit systems such as Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. In these cases and others, China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) is building and supplying rail cars after outbidding the competition. Why does this matter? Because the potential for continuous and direct (adversary) access to U.S. railcars and transit systems is real. This means that the trains could be shut down, operations could be disrupted, knock-on effects could hit other critical U.S. infrastructure sectors, and major U.S. cities could experience significant economic effects.
The problem is that non-market economies like China’s skew the playing field: U.S. private enterprise has the deck stacked against it when up against bids that benefit from substantial state support. From the standpoint of resource-strapped U.S. local governments, the temptation to go with the lowest price is clear, but you get…
