OPINION:
In announcing the administration’s recent temporary agreement to make a presumably less temporary trade agreement with China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent observed early this week that the U.S. and China found common ground on trade in talks over the weekend and neither side wants a divorce.
More specifically, Mr. Bessent offered: “The consensus from both delegations this weekend was neither side wants a decoupling. We concluded that we have shared interests and we both have an interest in balanced trade.”
That probably comes as a surprise to most Americans, who view communist China as what it is: a slaving, genocidal regime with designs on much of the world. Mr. Bessent’s broad declaration flies in the face of that widespread bipartisan sentiment and seems to bind the United States to China into the foreseeable future.
It is also contrary to the spirit, if not the words, of his boss. As a brief reminder, a good chunk of President Trump’s first term was spent chasing the white whale of an all-encompassing “deal” with the communists in Beijing. Even the parts of the arrangement that were eventually agreed to, mostly about buying American agricultural products, never happened, in large measure, because China did not hold up its end of the bargain.
For a nation that supposedly wants “balanced trade,” whatever that might be, communist China acts a lot like a renegade.
There is also the slight matter of the Trump administration identifying communist China as a genocidal regime. Way back in January 2021, just as it was walking out the door, Team Trump concluded that China had committed “genocide and crimes against humanity” in its repression of Uyghur Muslims in its Xinjiang region. Shocker.
The Biden administration came to the same unsurprising conclusion. In a report later that year, Team Biden noted that: “Genocide and crimes against humanity occurred during the year against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.”
Maybe the Treasury secretary forgot to read the briefing book on the flight over to Switzerland. On the other hand, what’s a little genocide and slavery when stacked up against the opportunity to stay shackled to an economic powerhouse that wants to take your place at the front of the parade?
President Trump promised during the 2024 campaign to impose 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports to the U.S., twice the level agreed to in the temporary deal. Mr. Trump also promised to revoke China’s status as a nation with permanent normalized trade relations with the United States. No word on when that might happen.
How about stopping Chinese espionage in the U.S., especially the theft of intellectual property? Crickets. Restrictions on China buying farmland, natural resources, technology and anything else in the United States? Hush, now. Chinese investment in American companies? All good.
There are very few globalists, and very few people are unmoored from affection for their native land. Mr. Bessent may be one of those people, or perhaps he was suffering from some irrational exuberance earlier this week.
The good news is that not everyone in the Cabinet suffers from that irrationality. During his confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that China has “lied, cheated, hacked and stolen” its way to global superpower status “at our expense.” He called China “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.”
I suspect that about 80% of the American people agree with all that. They understand, almost certainly with more clarity than their “leaders,” that decoupling from the slaving, genocidal, communist regime in Beijing is not only warranted but also essential. The People’s Republic of China means us no good, nor does it have friendly intentions toward the remainder of the world. That is obvious to anyone willing to see it.
Mr. Trump sees that in granular detail. Let’s hope he retains focus on that vision.
• Michael McKenna is a contributing editor at The Washington Times.
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