Are We Done with China Now?

We have known about the People’s Republic of China’s exploitation of American enterprise for years. The problem is that we have not wanted to confront it. Ever since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, it has been a relentless and pernicious economic adversary, routinely taking advantage of the greed and weakness of American companies. We should have taken actions previously to address imbalances in our trade relationships, but we didn’t. Now the pandemic has put these issues front and center.

In early December, China knew an infectious virus had been discovered in Wuhan. It was not until December 31 that China reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) that there was a risk of human-to-human transmission of the virus. The WHO failed the world by not publishing this. However, our intelligence services briefed the president on January 3, and eleven times after that throughout January and February about the magnitude of the coronavirus threat. Nothing happened.

While the world suffers from health and financial challenges, China has touted its ability to take advantage of the American economy and our weakness in trade. China controls many critical products and components of America’s supply chains. Of U.S. imports, China accounted for 95 percent of ibuprofen, 91 percent of hydrocortisone, and 80 percent of all antibiotics. Our dependence on Chinese medicine has crippled our ability to fight COVID-19 and various illnesses. This must change.