A number of Republican and Democrat lawmakers responded favorably to former President Donald Trump's bold plan for dealing with China — which involves making promises of universal baseline tariffs, stripping China of its Most Favored Nations status, and phasing out all Chinese imports of essential goods.
For his Saturday speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Trump called for a firm separation of the U.S. and China economies, a de facto continuation of his 2016 proposal of a 45% tariff on most exports from China.
"Trump did shift the conversation" on China policy, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa told Axios. "He will continue to shift [it]. We need to find ways to decouple when it comes to anything regarding national security."
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, acknowledged the U.S.-China relationship might need to be reclassified.
"I think the movement is relatively nascent," Menendez told Axios.
"There's a lot more to be done on the China list," said Menendez, while also referencing China's "digital authoritarianism" and "concentration camps."
And Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., believes that Trump could have success in getting U.S. citizens to buy into a decoupling of China.
"The American people have the habit of moving from indifference to outrage in very short order," Young told Axios. "And that's happened as it pertains to China."
According to the website china-brief.com, the U.S. trade deficit with China mushroomed to $382.9 billion in 2022 — a rise of 8.3% from the previous year.
In 2019, then-President Trump negotiated a "Phase One" trade deal with China, obliging that government into purchasing $200 billion in U.S. goods.
However, as Axios noted, China was slow to live up to its commitment, for various reasons.
Consequently, though, Trump could use that unfinished project to fuel his campaign against Biden and China in the weeks and months leading up to the 2024 Republican primaries, wrote Axios.
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