7,800 Research Grants Axed: The US-China Tech Race Warning

7,800 research grants vanished in a single year. The United States risks handing its lead in the global tech race to China on a silver platter. Nobel-winning economist Joel Mokyr characterizes the current administration's stance as a "wholesale onslaught" on scientific progress.

The Impending US-China Tech Race Warning

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Mokyr stated during an event at the University of Hong Kong that all cutting-edge science areas in the US are "suffering" under President Donald Trump. The scholar, who shared the 2025 Nobel Prize for Economics, described the current political cleanup of academic institutions as "way too radical" and "way too dramatic."

Politicizing Innovation: DEI and Funding Cuts

Washington suspended or cancelled more than 7,800 research grants last year, as reported by Nature. Furthermore, the State Department has proposed suspending 38 universities—including elite institutions like Harvard and Yale—from federal research partnerships due to their use of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices.

Mokyr suggested that this "mindless attitude" towards science mirrors patterns seen in populist regimes like Turkey, Hungary, and Russia. He noted that China has so far avoided this trap, which could provide Beijing with a decisive advantage as it seeks to leapfrog the US in strategic emerging industries.