Tom Friedman

EVs, robots, autonomous cars, batteries, clean energy. If you say, oh, we're not to do the EV part. Before I came over here, I read Trump wants to reopen coal plants, right? And he loves Drill Baby Drill. Okay, so it doesn't make any sense. You're building a wall against China. Great, I'm all for it, but what are you doing behind the wall?

EVs, robots, autonomous cars, batteries, clean energy. If you say, oh, we're not to do the EV part. Before I came over here, I read Trump wants to reopen coal plants, right? And he loves Drill Baby Drill. Okay, so it doesn't make any sense. You're building a wall against China. Great, I'm all for it, but what are you doing behind the wall?

So we catch up, you're taking your own companies out and shooting them in the back if they're not right-wing woke. What's the project, what's the Trump administration's focus on? How many billions can we take away from American universities of their research funds to punish them for DEI strategies? Now I'm here not to advocate DEI, but if I had a limited time in the world right now,

So we catch up, you're taking your own companies out and shooting them in the back if they're not right-wing woke. What's the project, what's the Trump administration's focus on? How many billions can we take away from American universities of their research funds to punish them for DEI strategies? Now I'm here not to advocate DEI, but if I had a limited time in the world right now,

I sure wouldn't be focused on that. I'd be focused on doubling down on the research capacity of these universities. I'd be doubling down on NIH. What are they doing? They're cutting the budgets of our crown gem research facilities. So it's all just bullshit. They're not serious people. They're clowns.

I sure wouldn't be focused on that. I'd be focused on doubling down on the research capacity of these universities. I'd be doubling down on NIH. What are they doing? They're cutting the budgets of our crown gem research facilities. So it's all just bullshit. They're not serious people. They're clowns.

Exactly. You should do 50-50 joint ventures with Chame. You can build your cars here, 50-50 joint venture, number one and number two. You have to build your supply chain here as well. So you're not going to just bring all the parts in, you know, from China. You've got to build the supply chain and the factory here, joint owned exactly here. what you did to us.

Exactly. You should do 50-50 joint ventures with Chame. You can build your cars here, 50-50 joint venture, number one and number two. You have to build your supply chain here as well. So you're not going to just bring all the parts in, you know, from China. You've got to build the supply chain and the factory here, joint owned exactly here. what you did to us.

I argued for this before with Huawei. And Huawei has a very dodgy past. And they've been involved in all kinds of lawsuits, you know, with different companies over IP. So what I said at one point was I would say to Huawei, here's the deal. We're going to let you wire Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. You can sell your technology in those three states. We're going to watch you for three years.

I argued for this before with Huawei. And Huawei has a very dodgy past. And they've been involved in all kinds of lawsuits, you know, with different companies over IP. So what I said at one point was I would say to Huawei, here's the deal. We're going to let you wire Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. You can sell your technology in those three states. We're going to watch you for three years.

We're going to see how you handle that. We'll see how you handle the data. If you do well, we're going to give you to other states. We created no incentive for them to be a better actor. There was no ladder up or out at all. We just then tried to kill them. And their response was, you talking to me? You talking to me? And they now went out, got into the fitness gym, and they might kill us.

We're going to see how you handle that. We'll see how you handle the data. If you do well, we're going to give you to other states. We created no incentive for them to be a better actor. There was no ladder up or out at all. We just then tried to kill them. And their response was, you talking to me? You talking to me? And they now went out, got into the fitness gym, and they might kill us.

So if all Trump is doing right now, Ezra, I don't know, I've lost track what the tariff is on China. We may be getting toward infinity. I have no idea. But if behind that is a strategy to basically do what we did the other way, I'm all for it.

So if all Trump is doing right now, Ezra, I don't know, I've lost track what the tariff is on China. We may be getting toward infinity. I have no idea. But if behind that is a strategy to basically do what we did the other way, I'm all for it.

But if the strategy is to only build a wall so we can go back to digging coal and only depending on oil and killing the wind business and killing the EV business... then this is going to end in such a disaster. All right, that's the immediate problem. You have another problem coming down the road with AI.

But if the strategy is to only build a wall so we can go back to digging coal and only depending on oil and killing the wind business and killing the EV business... then this is going to end in such a disaster. All right, that's the immediate problem. You have another problem coming down the road with AI.

And AI going to be injected into everything, okay, from your car to your toaster to your refrigerator, and maybe even your body. If we in China don't have a trusted architecture for managing AI, then everything, Ezra, is going to become TikTok. And this whole debate we're having over TikTok, can we have it? They're listening to us. What are they doing with the data?

And AI going to be injected into everything, okay, from your car to your toaster to your refrigerator, and maybe even your body. If we in China don't have a trusted architecture for managing AI, then everything, Ezra, is going to become TikTok. And this whole debate we're having over TikTok, can we have it? They're listening to us. What are they doing with the data?

That's going to apply to your toaster, to your tennis shoes, to your car. And so that's coming down the road. But that's already here.

That's going to apply to your toaster, to your tennis shoes, to your car. And so that's coming down the road. But that's already here.