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The Chinese Communist Party has destroyed millions of American jobs and stolen trillions of dollars of American intellectual property. Through its own actions, the Chinese government has been stripped of its preferential trading status with the United States. That's why we, along with Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, drafted a comprehensive repeal of permanent normal trade relations with China. Our bill would strategically decouple the U.S. and Chinese economies and end China's economic war against American workers and businesses.
In 2000, our leaders granted permanent normal trade relations with China, giving the Chinese Communist Party open access to the American economy. They believed that as China became richer, it would become freer, and that our companies would benefit from fair and free access to more than 1.2 billion Chinese consumers. It's just not happening.
On the contrary, the Chinese Communist Party is more repressive and the Chinese people are less free. The Chinese government has committed every imaginable economic crime, mistreated our companies, and shut down thousands of American factories. Since 2000, the United States has lost more than 4 million manufacturing jobs and is estimated to lose up to $600 billion annually due to intellectual property theft, primarily to China.
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The Chinese government also uses its economic influence to censor American leaders, American companies, and even American movies, entertainment, and news. Worst of all, China used our stolen wealth to build the world's largest army. Without the economic exploitation of our country, Beijing would never have been able to display its current military power.
The special trade relationship with China is hurting the United States. FILE: In this Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020 photo, workers watch as a container ship arrives at the port of Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong province. (China Topics, via AP)
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Our legislation would phase in, over five years, a 35% tariff on non-strategic Chinese goods and a 100% tariff on strategically important Chinese imports, while simultaneously It would give the president discretionary power to impose additional restrictions.
Gradual increases in these tariffs would give American companies time to move production back to the United States, train American workers, and adapt to China's new business environment free of corruption and abuse. Our law also closes the so-called “de minimis” trade loophole that allows China to send millions of packages to the United States completely duty-free every day.
And our law uses the proceeds from these tariffs to compensate companies that are subject to potential Chinese retaliation. While we expect retaliation, we must pursue policies that are best for the American people and not allow our actions to be dictated by fear of what China may do. . Additional revenue from tariffs would be used to strengthen the military and pay down the national debt.
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This bill would reset our relationship with China, create American jobs, rebuild American manufacturing, secure critical supply chains, strengthen our military, and enrich our economy. It would also end more than two decades of economic policy errors that have hurt Americans and enriched the Chinese Communist Party.
There is nothing normal about the current U.S.-China trade relationship, and we cannot afford to allow it to persist. We look forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump and the incoming Congress to begin a new chapter in U.S.-China relations.
Republican John Moolener represents Michigan's 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives and is chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Select Committee.
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