Chapter 989 - Give Up

screwed.

it was totally screwed.

even though the president had expected the counterattack by the chinese side, and his advisory team also formulated a response plan, they didn’t expect the chinese to act so quickly!

even though there was no substantial loss on the surface, wall street was already being hit hard.

even though there weren’t any actualized losses, it was enough to give them a headache.

of course, this wasn’t the worst.

only now did the president realize the level of penetration the chinese high-tech companies had in all of their industries.

two national projects worth more than us$10 billion were instantly demolished in an instant...

this was terrifying!

the office door opened, and kevin walked in with a serious look on his face.

“i just called the california government just now. local environmental organizations and other organizations are protesting. they want clean and cheap energy... they want us to receive the nuclear core from china this year.”

“f*ck them!”

the president slammed his fist on the table. he could feel his throat suffocating with anger.

he took a deep breath and calmed down, and after contemplating it for a while, he spoke in a gentle tone.

“maybe we should restart the national ignition facility... maybe controllable fusion is not as difficult as we thought...”

restart the national ignition facility...

kevin had a bitter look on his face.

he knew that the president himself knew how unrealistic that plan was. not only did this mean they would have to hire tens of thousands of scholars, but they would also have to spend tens of billions. this meant opening a third battlefield on top of the two original super projects.

even america couldn’t handle three super projects at the same time; the huge financial pressure could bankrupt the federal government.

not to mention, even if they restarted the national ignition facility...

kevin: “what about the sg-1 material? without that, we can’t complete the magnets we need to confine the plasma, unless we can think of another way to optimize the plasma turbulence control scheme. i’ve consulted with the experts. not only do we need the nuclear core, but we also need a supply of sg-1 material.”

president: “chips! restrict the exportation of chips to china! two can play this game.”

kevin took a deep breath.

“sir.”

the president stared at him.

“what’s wrong?”

kevin: “we can do that, but are you sure?”

the questioning tone from the chief of staff made the president rethink his words.

“i’ll think about it...”

chips...

that was a good idea.

there were more chips being imported into china than gallons of oil.

however, this would be a blow to both sides. after all, china could source their chips from other countries.

even though america could also convince their allies to suspend chip exportation to chinese companies...

but...

would their european allies cooperate, when faced with the temptation of controllable fusion?

europe was like a retired wealthy man, relying on the retirement fund he saved when he was young. he could still survive for a few decades, but they needed a controllable fusion to survive.

so far, china hadn’t released the official documents, so going against china meant they could say goodbye to nuclear fusion...

even if america bet all of their chips...

did they really have a chance of winning?

the president couldn’t help but feel a touch of sadness.

ten years ago was different.

no, even two years ago, the situation was much better than now.

at least back then, they had the ability to compete with china, and their international influence allowed them to kick china out of iter.

but now, they couldn’t even take down one chinese company...

kevin paused for a second and spoke.

“sir, we’ve done enough, think about the long term impacts. this is not the right time to attack chinese high-tech enterprises. our super projects still need their support. before the fusion power plant is built, before the lunar gateway program finishes, we should restrain ourselves.

“also, the electric vehicle market is not our concern. our demand for electric vehicles is not as high as china’s, and tesla’s market value is not comparable to california’s economy. what if we just tell elon to make a sacrifice?”

after all, elon was the one that moved all of the jobs to shanghai.

even though there was nothing wrong with earning money from the chinese, elon was taking away the jobs from americans.

“what about exxonmobil?” the president paused for a second and said, “wall street is dangerous, but these oil giants are not.”

the president never paid attention to tesla’s interests.

the reason for the attack against star sky technology was because this company had been on his radar for a long time; he only used the sh standard as an excuse.

however, exxonmobil was different. exxonmobil wasn’t just a political campaign funder; it also indirectly provided hundreds of thousands of jobs.

basically, exxonmobil could easily affect unemployment rates.

and unemployment rates played a huge deal on the elections...

“they’re just taking advantage of the situation and trying to make a profit, but they don’t matter, plus the ceo of exxonmobil has to show his board that he’s not useless, the useless person is...”

kevin awkwardly paused for a second and thought of a safe answer. “the useless person is the judge.”

the president said, “isn’t it a bit shameless for us to give in like this?”

kevin sighed and smiled as he said, “it’s easy to find an excuse. the investigation from the department of commerce can be canceled by the international trade commission. we’re not compromising, we just... made an error!

“as for the department of justice, make their evidence ‘incomplete’. if exxonmobil isn’t happy, we can tell them to bring the lawsuit themselves.”

the president’s eyes suddenly lit up. he looked at his chief of staff and said, “contact the people from the international trade commission.

“you’re right, this is not a good time to attack high-tech chinese companies, we’ll go with your plan!”