Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said during an interview on Wednesday that the U.S. needs to become economically independent from China and that he would be willing to use tariffs to force the communist nation to change.
DeSantis made the remarks during an interview on Fox News with host Kayleigh McEnany.
“I think we need to reestablish our economic sovereignty,” DeSantis said. “I think we need to produce more critical items here in the United States. And I think they have a huge amount of leverage over us because of really policy choices that have been made over many decades.”
DeSantis slammed “D.C. elites” who pushed for China’s entrance to the World Trade Organization claiming that it would make China more “free” and “democratic.”
“In reality, it hollowed out parts of our country, it made China very rich, and what has Xi used that money for? To build up more military capacity,” DeSantis said. “He now has grand ambitions, not just in the Pacific, but even in our own hemisphere. And we see news where China is going to be working with Cuba to establish eavesdropping, maybe a military outpost, that’s a huge, huge threat to this country.”
“So yes, we need to declare independence from China economically,” he continued. “And we need to make sure that we have the ability to project the appropriate strength in the Pacific to work with our allies to deter China. China understands the language of strength. And I think what Joe Biden has done since his first day in office, he’s projected weakness. A lot of bad actors around the world see that. And that really whets their appetite to be able to do things that are going to be very harmful for the world.”
WATCH:
Ron DeSantis on decoupling from China:
"Yes, we need to declare independence from China economically, and we need to make sure that we have the ability to project the appropriate strength in the Pacific."
Says Biden "projected weakness." pic.twitter.com/W1uOk3pgh8
— Never Back Down (@NvrBackDown24) June 22, 2023
When asked if he would be willing to use tariffs to leverage change out of China, DeSantis said, “Yeah, I would.”
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“I think that what you need to do, if you’re going to target a particular industry in China like that, you need to make sure we have incentives here in the United States to bring that industry home,” he added. “It will raise the price of the China product, but we got to make sure it’s economical here in the United States.”
“So you need to have — couple that with tax incentives, tax credits, and even for things that are really important like semiconductors,” he continued. “You know, I would be willing to support government support on that. I typically wouldn’t do that. Because, you know, generally the market does. But I think some of these things are so important for national security, we’ve got to be willing to lean in on that.”
WATCH:
Ron DeSantis says he'd use tariffs to hold China accountable on trade.
On semiconductors, "I would be willing to support government support. I typically wouldn't do that … but I think some of these things are so important for national security we've got to be willing to lean… pic.twitter.com/cGhCGxQ2NJ
— Never Back Down (@NvrBackDown24) June 22, 2023