American Compass

Developing the conservative economic agenda to supplant blind faith in free markets with a focus on workers, their families and communities, and the nation.

[American Compass @AmerCompass]

"The popular uprising against data centers has emerged so suddenly that politicians stumble over their own pitchforks racing to the front of the crowd. Where most industries would be launching into crisis P.R. mode, perhaps even engaging in some soul-searching, artificial intelligence companies seem determined to plow full steam ahead, building the future they want, even if they’re the only ones who want it," @oren_cass writes, in his latest for @nytimes.

[American Compass @AmerCompass]

Read more here: https://t.co/ntNYP9j4Le

[American Compass @AmerCompass]

We're excited to announce our Distinguished Fellows program and welcome 8 fellows who have challenged outdated orthodoxies and charted the course toward a political economy that serves ordinary American citizens:

- Andy Baker, former Deputy National Security Advisor
- @JuliusKrein, editor of @AmericanAffrs and president of @NAIA
- Robert Lighthizer, former U.S. Trade Representative
- @SteveMiran, former Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers
- Jacob Reses, former Chief of Staff, Office of the Vice President
- Jeff Sessions, former U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator
- @gailaslater, former Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, U.S. Department of Justice
- @YaredPierre, former acting Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers

[Oren Cass @oren_cass]

Prediction: This @AmerCompass @chris_griz proposal for universal vocational education will soon become conventional wisdom, and his essay the seminal case:

"In an era when most Americans neither serve in the military nor have any connection to a labor union, and when the idea of national service spawns endless panel discussions that do nothing to make it plausible, high school has unrivaled power to form us as citizens, prepare us to build decent lives, and shape our sense of shared American identity."

[Oren Cass @oren_cass]

1/ 🚨 New polling from @AmerCompass: Why the AI Pessimism?

People want good jobs and improvements in their everyday lives. Many see AI delivering... not that.

The most interesting data:

[Select Committee on China @ChinaSelect]

President Trump has made clear that America must WIN the AI race. That means strengthening export controls to keep advanced AI chips out of the hands of the CCP.

Unfettered access to American AI technology risks accelerating China’s military capabilities and expanding its surveillance and repression. We cannot fuel the CCP’s rise at the expense of our national security.

Read this @AmerCompass article to learn more: https://t.co/6djw0rndsA

[American Compass @AmerCompass]

Read the full Strengthening America’s AI Chip Export Controls brief here: https://t.co/NaGloecl1E

[American Compass @AmerCompass]

The Trump admin and Congress have recognized the urgency of this vulnerability. By building The Chip Security Act, the MATCH Act, and AI OVERWATCH Act into this year’s NDAA, Congress can achieve a lasting, legislative fix to these gaps and help maintain American AI leadership.

[American Compass @AmerCompass]

Our dominance of AI chips has kept the CCP from leading on AI. But now American companies like Nvidia are trying to chip away at the export controls that sustain that advantage to boost their profits.

National security, and the well-being of U.S. consumers, hang in the balance.

[American Compass @AmerCompass]

America dominates global AI by leading the world in building advanced AI chips. But that dominance isn’t guaranteed; China is aggressively trying to catch up.

To maintain our lead, Congress needs to close the gaps in America’s export controls. @Chris_Griz has a roadmap. 🧵👇

[Senator Jim Banks @SenatorBanks]

.@AmerCompass: The AI OVERWATCH Act, “introduced by…Jim Banks (R-IN)…would address the direct sale of advanced AI chips to adversaries.”

“It would codify existing restrictions…securing those restrictions against future administrative changes.”

https://t.co/sdYUITp3jT

[Commonplace @commonplc]

National counsel to the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, elections expert, and @HooverInst fellow Ben Ginsberg joins @oren_cass on the @AmerCompass Podcast to discuss concerns about election integrity, the "fraud-suppression industrial complex," and more. https://t.co/6GJII3ws65

[Johnny Burtka @johnnyburtka]

Thank you, Oren. Much appreciated. It’s another great day to work @AmerCompass!

[Johnny Burtka @johnnyburtka]

I’m pleased to share that today marks my first day as editorial director and philanthropy chair @AmerCompass! I’m grateful to @oren_cass and @abigailrsal for the opportunity.

[Commonplace @commonplc]

COVID should have made clear that America can't rely on an untrustworthy foreign power to provide what we need domestically.

@Snapon_Tools CEO Nicholas Pinchuk joins @oren_cass on the @AmerCompass Podcast to make sense of the domestic manufacturing revival.

[American Compass @AmerCompass]

Nobel laureate @DAcemogluMIT joins @oren_cass on the podcast to make sense of what happened to liberal democracy. @commonplc https://t.co/hpc8wTUC26

[Mark Krikorian @MarkSKrikorian]

Mark Krikorian: Immigration Enforcement Without the Melodrama

Very quietly, ICE is getting the job done.
https://t.co/kezaxaI5Ga

[Oren Cass @oren_cass]

Is AI the new climate change?
✅Fears of extinction
✅Demands for govt takeover
✅China uncooperative
✅A papal encyclical!
✅Trump says it's a HOAX

2015 called and wants its panic back. The climate meltdown holds valuable lessons for how to about AI: https://t.co/GYpYA2BtJ2

[Nick @badvalorem]

https://t.co/fJlb3BxG6A

[Nick @badvalorem]

Canada is treating a 5% weighted average tariff like the 82nd Airborne is invading Ottawa. They think of duty-free access to the American market as a component of Canadian sovereignty rather than a bargained-for privilege that America is free to renegotiate.

I wrote for @commonplc about why Canada's perspective is flawed:

1. Canada wasn't uniquely targeted, it was included in a global policy to rebalance our trading relationships after decades of unsustainable service as the world's consumer of last resort. When we took measures to end this role, Canada got a better deal than virtually anyone else.

2. Every other country (notably including Mexico and the EU) was able to negotiate for reduced tariffs. Unlike those countries, Canada moved straight to retaliation, signed a "strategic partnership " with China, and then unilaterally broke off talks. This suggests that the Canada conflict is driven by Canada, not the US

3. What's driving Canada? Primarily a craving for the kind of grand national purpose that prosperous liberal societies - and perhaps Canada especially - aren't very good at generating. Carney and other members of the Western governing caste used to think that fighting climate change, inequality, and systemic racism might do the trick, but Trump has given them a more politically viable purpose: realignment away from the US and towards Europe.

4. Will it work? Not as a matter of trade policy. The EU is incapable of providing demand sufficient to replace what Canada could lose from the US. Canada-EU trade is already tariff-free, Canada doesn't have the infrastructure to export energy across the Atlantic, the European ag sector is too politically sensitive to open to Canada, and on manufactured goods Europe is a competitor rather than a customer for Canada. In exchange for this exciting trade opportunity, Canada will have to align with EU regulatory commitments, the most potent growth-killer in the Western world.

5. While Canada and the EU expend massive amounts of time and resources trying to extract an extra 0.1% of GDP from integrating two no-growth economies, they are sitting under a tidal wave of Chinese exports that are going to deindustrialize them both. This is the only problem that really matters, and failing to solve it obviates anything else Canada and the EU might achieve.

6. Many have made the point that this all hurts Canada far more than the US, but we should still care. Canada is unique among our trade partners because of the amount of supply chain integration we have in key industries. A weaker, poorer Canada isn't in our interest, and a Canada desperate for new commercial relationships will be likely to double-down on attracting Chinese investment. If China gets into the production system for Canadian energy, metals, critical minerals, etc. that's a huge L for the project of de-risking North American supply chains.

7. Conclusion: Canada's policy achieves the opposite of what it intends. Canada is seeking sovereignty, but it does so by degrading its chief geopolitical asset: duty-free access to the US market. That puts Canada in a position of bargaining from weakness, and that means any new relationships it forms with the EU and China will be either low-impact or extractive. Canada will become a price-taker on growth-strangling EU regulations and predatory Chinese capital, which is the opposite of sovereignty. You can't be sovereign if you're desperate.

[Christopher Barnard @ChrisBarnardDL]

It was fun to sit down with the @AmerCompass crew to discuss the New Right's approach to conservation

The left's vision for environmental leadership has failed, it's up to us to replace it