Former Trump cabinet member Wilbur Ross lays out which industries remain dependent on China and which trade partners could fill in the gap

• The former Secretary of Commerce credited the tech industry for its reshoring of semiconductor manufacturing.
• Wilbur Ross said pharmaceuticals and industries reliant on rare minerals are still dependent on China.

Former Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross doesn't have many positive things to say about President Joe Biden's administration, but the reshoring of semiconductor manufacturing has impressed even him.

The passage of the CHIPS Act pumped more than $50 billion into domestic production, and companies like Lockheed Martin, Micron, Intel, and more have expanded in the US. Still, there are several industries reliant on China, Ross said.

Speaking Wednesday afternoon at the Greenwich Economic Forum, Ross, who served under former President Donald Trump, said pharmaceutical companies and industries in need of rare earth minerals, like electric vehicle makers, are especially intertwined with mainland China.

"We need to do something to reduce our dependency," said Ross, who made his fortune as a distressed investor before joining the Trump administration.

As the US and China continue their diplomatic standoff, he believes trade partners like Vietnam and Mexico will grow in importance. India, a recent source of significant investment from American companies, could even replace China as a trade partner, he said, if the country's government would play along.

He described India's coalition government as "more of a debate society than a functional government."

"They're starting to come to grips with it," he said, citing the country's work in space technology as an example. "It just might take a little longer than one might have hoped."

Even though aggressive trade policy toward China has been one of the few things both political parties can agree on, Ross doesn't believe there needs to be a complete decoupling.

"Both sides are finally getting to the point where they acknowledge there's a competition between them," he said. A total severance between the two would be a shock to both countries' economies. The U.S. exported $195.5 billion worth of goods to China in 2022, while bringing in more than $560 billion worth of Chinese goods, according to the U.S. Trade Representative.

Bringing manufacturing and services back to the US from overseas won't end anytime soon, he said, and will be the next decade's follow-up to globalization.

"That's going to cure a lot of the problem," Ross said.