Senate Finance Committee Chairman Says Coronavirus Outbreak Reveals US as Too Reliant on China
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters that the coronavirus outbreak's impact on China's factories has shown policymakers that the U.S. is too dependent on China for imports. “There ought to be more manufacturing in the United States, but that isn't just on pharmaceuticals, but that could be on anything you're having these supply chains are being interfered with,” he said March 11 in his office at the Capitol.
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He also dismissed an idea, which according to press reports is being pushed by White House Adviser Peter Navarro, that requiring that federal purchases of drugs and protective gear for the pandemic come from U.S. sources would stimulate more domestic manufacturing of those goods. He said protecting companies from lawsuits would be more effective. “If we do that, I don't think we have to worry about the Buy America part,” he said.
Grassley brushed off the idea that dropping tariffs on China or on Europe could be a good economic stimulus in response to the impact from the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. economy. That suggestion was raised by some Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee in a meeting with the U.S. trade representative earlier that day. He said that while he doesn't like tariffs, he thinks China would have to remove tariffs as well for that to work.
Grassley also touched on ongoing trade negotiations and implementation of the phase one deal with China. “We have seen ... five or six initiatives that have been taken by China to show their good faith,” he said, but China's economy's in trouble, and he thinks the U.S. would provide some flexibility on the Chinese purchase promises as a result.
He said he is disappointed by news that the United Kingdom is talking again about a digital services tax, since in his view, it can only be solved through negotiation at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. “It's another chip on the table for the U.K. to have something to give away … to strengthen their position in negotiating,” he said of the DST. “I doubt if they're very serious about it....”