Shannon Brandao on LinkedIn: China hawks’ trade crackdown hits resistance
Politico [excerpt]: Congress’ #China hawks are meeting rare pushback in their campaign to crack down on Beijing — #farm district #Republicans and #agriculture…
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From the article: "Politico [excerpt]: Congress’ #China hawks are meeting rare pushback in their campaign to crack down on Beijing — #farm district #Republicans and #agriculture lobbies increasingly alarmed that Congress might just blow up American farmers’ largest #export market.

Lawmakers and influential agriculture lobby groups led a campaign to soften the language in a high-profile new report this week from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, prompting the panel’s leaders to pull back from an explicit call to revoke normal #trade status for China — a move that would likely mean significantly higher #tariffs on a wide swath of Chinese products.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the influential China hawk who heads the China Select Committee, acknowledged to reporters Tuesday that there was 'robust debate on this issue.'

The dust up over the report language highlights how, despite general agreement on the need to be 'tough on China,' the #GOP and #Congress remain deeply divided on the policy specifics as they gear up for the 2024 #election.

Republicans, in particular, remain at odds over how to confront Beijing, especially when it comes to the risks for U.S. farmers and rural communities — a key GOP constituency. Some rural Republican lawmakers have already raised concerns about former President Donald Trump’s plans to slap new tariffs on China if he’s reelected next year, which they warn could lead to a new wave of Chinese retaliation on U.S. exports. But they and other #business-friendly lawmakers have largely raised those warnings in private, wary of being painted as soft on China by members of their own party.

Gallagher told reporters the final report gave a nod to members who had concerns about issues like the 'potential retaliation by China against American farmers,' of which he added, 'we have to take that threat seriously.' Ultimately, Gallagher said, lawmakers 'landed on' text that 'at a minimum recognizes that the status quo hasn’t worked.'

As word began to circulate that the Select Committee might recommend a repeal of China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations designation, enacted more than two decades ago to lower American tariffs on China, concerned Republicans quietly joined together with several Democrats who voiced their own reasons to push for revisions. They argued such a drastic step would have catastrophic consequences, especially for U.S. farmers and rural communities. The lawmakers, including ag district Republicans Dusty Johnson of South Dakota and Darin LaHood of Illinois, along with Democrats Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts and Ritchie Torres of New York, managed to secure small changes to the trade language, which essentially made it palatable enough for some, though not all, of its critics."

#news #geopolitics