Reed Joins Schumer, Durbin, Shaheen, Warner, Coons, Schatz, Warren, Kim Statement on Trump’s China Policy Ahead of His Summit With Chinese President Xi

WASHINGTON, DC – As President Donald Trump arrives in Beijing, China for his meeting with President Xi Wednesday, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and key U.S. Senate leaders say they’ll be closely watching how President Trump handles a number of issues that have potential national security implications. Reed and eight of his colleagues condemned the Trump Administration’s policies on China as failures for the American people and national security and encouraged President Trump to secure real, long-lasting wins for American families, rather than trade away American security and jobs for a photo-op. Today, Senator Reed, the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, teamed up with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL); U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), the Ranking Member of the Senate Intelligence Committee; U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs; U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee; and U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) the Banking Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance released the following joint statement. “The Trump Administration’s China policy has been one failure after another for American taxpayers and U.S. national security. In just the last year, the President has walked back export controls and blessed sales of critical AI chips to Chinese firms, cut American research, weakened our alliances, squeezed farmers, and failed to stop the flow of fentanyl into our communities. Instead of investing in U.S. alliances and partnerships to tackle global challenges, Trump has destroyed U.S. global standing, one of America’s most formidable advantages over China. “Now, as the President arrives in Beijing, he isn’t even pretending he will try to solve these problems—most of his own creation. Instead, he’s focused on investment deals that could threaten American manufacturing and economic independence. Given the economic hardship facing families across our country, Trump owes the American people solutions, not just another red-carpet appearance. “The solutions to these challenges are forged at home and with U.S. allies and partners and will not be solved in any one summit. To be effective, he must have a plan to defend U.S. manufacturing and ensure any U.S. investments in China do not allow our most advanced technologies to flow to the People’s Liberation Army. He needs to get serious about investing in the research, skills, and industrial might needed for the U.S. to build the jobs of the future here in America. He should rebuild alliances and partnerships, provide U.S. security support to Taiwan amid growing threats, and reverse the damage done by his bullying of allies with across-the-board tariffs. And when it comes to halting the flow of fentanyl and synthetic opioid precursors, Trump should not let Xi repackage the same deliverables that the Biden Administration already secured. Rather, he should rebuild multilateral counternarcotics pressure on China to end money laundering and government acquiescence to precursor and equipment sales once and for all. “U.S. national security and American taxpayers cannot afford for Trump to simply get another photo op while folding to Xi. On fentanyl, economic security, regional and global security, American jobs, and prices at home – Trump must come back from Beijing with real, long-lasting wins for the American people.”