00:00Well, Vince Cable is a former UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade,
00:04and I'll ask him where the UK stands as the European Union resets its relations with China.
00:10I worry a little bit that the European Union, which I think until quite recently saw itself as kind of
00:18midway between the US and China,
00:21particularly on commercial type of issues, is developing a considerable resistance to Chinese imports.
00:31The European automobile industry is very vulnerable.
00:35It's very clear from the pronouncements of the European Commission in recent weeks
00:40that the European Union is contemplating tariff protection of its car industry.
00:45This doesn't necessarily cover the UK.
00:48Of course, we're no longer in the European Union, and it may well be that the British want a somewhat
00:54more nuanced approach.
00:57Some years ago, when the British car industry felt threatened by Japanese competition,
01:04we adopted a much more modest and opened approach than the European Union seemed to favour,
01:12in the sense that we encouraged voluntary export restraints by the exporting country,
01:18but encouraging Nissan and other countries to set up production base in the UK.
01:23And I think that's probably the way Britain would like to develop its relationships with the EV companies,
01:30whereas the Europeans seem to be going in a more protectionist and hostile direction where China is concerned.
01:37What would each side bring to the table if they were to join forces on AI and emerging technologies?
01:43There is a lot of talk about collaboration on AI,
01:47but frankly, there's not a great deal of common ground between the big players,
01:51the US and China, European Union, the UK, where their positions are all very divergent.
01:58I think the British focus has very much been on AI safety.
02:03So I think our emphasis is where we can find common ground with China
02:08in getting international protocols governing AI safety.
02:12That's something we can actually work on together
02:15and probably have more common ground with the United States,
02:18which approaches this in a much more freewheeling way.
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