Why are some Republicans still favoring China over U.S. manufacturers?

OPINION:

U.S. policy toward China underwent a major shift during the Trump administration. Rather than continue the toothless diplomacy of the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, former President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on roughly 40% of Chinese imports. This was long overdue, considering the 3.7 million U.S. jobs lost to China over the past two decades. And voters agree — with 80% saying they would pay more for consumer goods if it meant companies leaving China. 

To his credit, President Biden has continued most of the Trump tariffs. However, some Republicans are still intent on supporting China at America’s expense. In fact, legislation being pushed by Reps. Kevin Brady of Texas and Vern Buchanan of Florida could end up helping factories in China rather than U.S. manufacturers — since it would effectively remove all of Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports.

Mr. Brady’s and Mr. Buchanan’s efforts come just as Washington is beginning to grapple with China’s remarkable rise over the past 20 years. Clearly, Congress and the American people are wary of Beijing’s growing power. But following the import shortages that occurred at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s now a growing consensus that the U.S. must bring its supply chains back from overseas.

All of this bears heavily on the bipartisan U.S. Innovation and Competition Act that passed the Senate this summer and is currently being debated in the House. The bill aims to help America’s high-tech sectors better compete with China through a $110 billion investment in advanced technologies. That’s certainly encouraging. But the Senate also included a section in the bill known as the “Trade Act of 2021.” And it’s this additional legislation that could end up deepening America’s dependence on goods from China.

When Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on China in 2018, he relied on his authority under Section 301 of U.S. trade law to defend against unfair foreign trade practices. However, the new USICA that Mr. Brady and Mr. Buchanan are so keen to pass in the House would impose major roadblocks to Section 301 — and make it extraordinarily difficult for future presidents to deploy tariffs on imports from China. 

Mr. Brady and Mr. Buchanan aren’t content with simply dismantling Section 301, however. The legislation they’re proposing would also undermine efforts to crack down on China’s human rights abuses. Since 2017, Beijing has forced more than 1 million Uyghurs and other minority groups into a vast network of modern-day concentration camps. Many are then transferred to forced labor in nine separate Chinese provinces. Lawmakers, including Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, have introduced bipartisan bills to address these human rights abuses.

What Mr. Brady and Mr. Buchanan are pushing for in their trade act would weaken Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 — America’s longstanding ban on goods made with forced labor. Their bill would require extensive bureaucratic consultations between U.S. Customs, the State Department and the Labor Department before any restrictions could be imposed on Chinese imports. 

Overall, Mr. Brady’s and Mr. Buchanan’s trade legislation prioritizes low-cost imports based on their presumed importance to U.S. consumers. Essentially, they want to keep Chinese imports — which are already subsidized by the Chinese government — as cheap as possible when competing with American-made goods.

This is the type of short-sighted thinking that got America into its current predicament. Not only is the U.S. heavily dependent on China for everything from pharmaceuticals and electronics to military hardware, but millions of Americans have lost good-paying jobs in the process.

The supply chain crisis spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic has made clear that the U.S. faces serious risks due to its over-dependence on China. And that includes a growing list of unsafe imports from China, such as tainted medicines and defective products.

The obvious answer is to rebuild America’s factories and productive capacity — not pass laws that continue the nation’s reliance on a growing adversary. As Congress considers the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act and other measures intended to compete with China, it must reject Mr. Brady’s and Mr. Buchanan’s pro-China legislation.

• Michael Stumo is CEO of the Coalition for a Prosperous America. Follow him at @michael_stumo.