October 21, 2026 – Stephen A. Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, said his recent visit to Xiaomi’s Beijing smart factory left him “stunned” by the scale of its robot-driven automation, and used the experience to argue that Washington and Beijing should cooperate in green industries rather than push for decoupling.
Speaking at the 2026 Sustainable Global Leaders Conference in Shanghai, Orlins said the United States is also making progress in advanced manufacturing, but the world’s two largest manufacturing economies can find ways to collaborate. He singled out green industries as a priority area, suggesting that both sides should be able to share technologies and license them under clear rules.
“If we don’t do that, it will have a huge impact on the whole world,” he said, warning that some energy-saving and environmental technologies may never reach mass adoption because their costs are pushed too high for ordinary consumers.
He pointed to electric vehicles as a concrete example. Without a workable cooperation path, he argued, the U.S. EV industry will fall further behind, because domestically produced electric cars are more expensive and less efficient across the supply chain than comparable Chinese products.
Orlins also praised Xiaomi Auto and its founder Lei Jun, a rare public endorsement from a senior U.S. figure closely involved in bilateral exchanges. His comments were widely read as recognition of China’s broader gains in new-energy vehicle manufacturing, especially in production efficiency, cost control and automated assembly.
He went further, saying some U.S. automakers were slowing full electrification to protect existing internal-combustion engine markets. That may serve the short-term interests of a few companies, he said, but it does not serve the long-term interests of American consumers.
Analysts said the remarks reflected a deeper shift in how China’s EV advantage is being perceived. After years of intense domestic competition, Chinese manufacturers have turned manufacturing efficiency and end-to-end cost control into exportable capabilities. If trade barriers and technology restrictions are not eased, those advantages may continue to spill over into global markets, offering consumers more affordable green mobility options.
Orlins also noted that China is increasingly combining AI data centers with renewable energy, an area where the United States could learn from Chinese practice. He said he remained more optimistic about the bilateral relationship than he had been one or two years ago, adding that cooperation between the two countries could accelerate technological progress and help lower the overall cost of the global energy transition.
