Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Opinion
Karl W. Smith and Noah Smith

Biden Would Usher In a New Era of Industrial Policy

The question is how involved the government should be — and how to balance regulations and incentives.

U.S. President Joe Biden laid out details of his infrastructure plan in Pittsburgh.

U.S. President Joe Biden laid out details of his infrastructure plan in Pittsburgh.

Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

President Joe Biden unveiled his American Jobs Plan today, and Bloomberg Opinion columnists Karl Smith and Noah Smith met online to swap early impressions. A lightly edited transcript follows.

Karl Smith: The president’s plan has the potential to define U.S. economic policy for the next several decades. And from a political standpoint, it’s very smart — meeting the American people where they are by combining populist elements from the left and the right. It includes efforts to rebuild America’s industrial capacity, ease the financial burden on working-class and young professional families, and challenge China’s growing economic dominance.