The last day of the Coalition for a Prosperous America conference held on Friday, March 26th, was focused on U.S.-China trade policy. It’s gratifying to me that key elected representatives and officials are finally waking up to the fact that China is not our friend and instead is a threat to our national security.
Dennis Shea, former U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization was the morning keynote speaker of the day in a live video. He said, “China’s economic system is incompatible with the market rules of the WTO. China has not developed the market economy that was expected. State-owned companies that are funded by state-owned banks and increased Chinese Communist Party (CCP) involvement in business has expanded in the past 20 years. Professor Mark Wu of Harvard Law School coined the term ‘China Inc,’ but Jude Blanchette, Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has said that ‘China Inc.’ has become ‘CCP Inc.’ The WTO has proved itself incapable of making China comply with WTO rules. The WTO requires 100% consensus of its 164 member countries, but China will never approve changes in any WTO rules. The WTO has been a tremendous advantage for China. There have been administrative changes proposed, but china has been adamantly against these changes. Where do we go from here? First, the WTO members need to recognize that there is a problem.”
Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), who is Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in the Senate, was the next speaker. He said, “I have opposed every trade bill that CPA opposed and supported every bill that CPA supported. The Biden Administration has enacted the Defense Production Act (DPA) to bolster vaccine production and increase the supply of critical PPE. The Pfizer vaccine is made in Kalamazoo, MI. They are now producing 13 million doses/week, up from 5 million. You can’t be a really great country if you can’t make things. It is important to focus on manufacturing. There are 58 manufacturing programs spread out over 16 government agencies. I am pushing for a national Institute of Manufacturing, which would give manufacturing a higher profile with other programs. I proposed creating a ‘manufacturing.gov’ website to be a one-stop cite to help manufacturers. I am working to increase enforcement funding to protect small companies from unfair foreign competition and have introduced legislation to have the Department of Commerce help small companies who are being affected by dumping by foreign companies.”
His speech was followed by a panel on “How to Win the Great Power Rivalry with China,” moderated by Jon Toomey, CPA Government Relations Director. Panel participants were: Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), Roger Robinson, President & CEO of RWR Advisory Group, and Dan DiMicco, former CEO and chairman of Nucor Steel.
Senator Marco Rubio commented, “The 21st Century is going to be about the balance between the U.S. and China. China seeks to dominate all industries and become the superpower of the century. Our inability to make things leaves us dependent on China. Dependence can lead to China to millions of Americans achieve the American dream without creating higher paying jobs. It is now possible for an entrepreneur to make products and create wealth with no benefit to American workers. This led to multinational companies moving manufacturing to other countries to create wealth with the loss of jobs to American workers. It is time for policy makers to step n and ensure that the free market works for the every day American. You can’t be a great power if you can’t make things. It has been our ability to develop and make things that is important to our national security.”
Roger Robinson said, “President Trump’s E.O. 13959 prohibited U.S. investors from purchasing or investing in securities of companies identified by the U.S. government as ‘Communist Chinese military companies.’ There are now 44 companies listed, but we need to have a list like this for human rights violators. We could put 300 companies out of our markets. The Secretary of Treasury needs to close the doors of funding for CCP companies. We need to turn off the investment funding for Chinese companies. “ He added, “We need to put China in a box that would be very difficult to get out of like President Reagan implemented against Russia.”
Rep. Posey said, “China has held an anvil over people’s heads. More and more people realize that it is time to do something. We need to use financial and economic measures to put the squeeze on China that we have never dreamed about before. We need to get behind a precise plan to go for the jugular. But I don’t see any sign of a unified plan now.”
Dan DiMicco said, “There is no negotiating with China, and the meeting in Alaska made that clear. It was a provocative exchange on the part of the Chinese. I hope the Biden Administration is saying ‘the free lunch is over.’ We have the greatest opportunity in 30 years to come together on our position with China.”
The last panel of the conference was “How Customs Enforcement Can Protect Jobs and National Security,” moderated by Chuck Benoit, CPA Trade Counsel. The panelists participating were: Vincent Annunziato, Director at Customs & Border Protection, Dan Nation, Division President of Parkdale Mills, and Therese Randazzo, Division Director, Forced Labor at Department of Homeland Security.
Mr. Annunziato said, “The way we collect data is changing. We are using Blockchain to validate the entity data of businesses when we are investigating county of origin for imports that may be violating regulations. We need to ensure that the identity of the manufacturer and the country of origin are correct to be able to apply the correct Harmonized Tariff Schedule.”
Ms. Randazzo said, ‘Enforced labor is any labor conducted under some kind of force. There are 25 million people worldwide who are suffering from forced labor.” She explained that the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 “prohibits all products made by forced labor, including child labor, from being imported into the United States.” She said that her division looks into 11 indicators of forced labor:
- Isolation from family and confinement
- Physical or sexual violence
- Not free to leave
- Withholding of wages
- Deception
- Excessive overtime
- Debt bondage
- Intimidation or threats
- Abusing vulnerabilities of illegal aliens
- Abusive language or working conditions
- Retention of identity documents
She added, “Our division collaborates with other government agencies and NGO organizations. There are four phases in the forced labor process: (1) investigate, (2) Issue press releases (3) goods are detailed, (4) issue a finding wherein products are not allowed to be imported.”
Unfortunately, due an appointment conflict, I missed the final video presentation of the day featuring Clyde Prestowitz, discussing his new book, The World Turned Upside Down, America, China, and the Struggle for Global Leadership. You can watch his presentation at this link. I could have watched the video to be able to quote a few comments, but his book deserves my writing a separate article about it after I read it.
