[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 37 (Thursday, February 28, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S1557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Vietnam Summit

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, several hours ago, in the middle of the 
night here in the United States, we received word that the summit in 
Hanoi between the United States and North Korea would be ending 
prematurely. Unable to reach an understanding on either sanctions 
relief or denuclearization, President Trump decided to walk away from 
the talks without an agreement.
  Though I don't know the details yet, and I look forward to speaking 
with Secretary Pompeo, I was pleased to see the President recognized 
North Korea's unwillingness to strike a comprehensive deal. President 
Trump did the right thing by walking away and not cutting a poor deal 
for the sake of a photo op.
  Just like the President, I want a deal with North Korea that will 
bring an end to the conflict and change the course of the region. 
However, I have always been concerned about the possibility of a bad 
deal, especially with the other pressures currently on the President. A 
deal that fell short of complete, verifiable denuclearization would 
have only made North Korea stronger and the world less safe, and it 
would have squandered the substantial leverage our negotiators have now 
thanks to the bite of sanctions.
  President Trump must now apply the lesson of North Korea diplomacy to 
our trade negotiations with China. President Trump must have the 
courage to do the same thing with China as he has done for North Korea. 
The President must be willing to hold the line and walk away if China 
does not agree to meaningful, enduring, structural reform of its unfair 
trading policy. President Trump should not fall into the trap of 
seeking a deal for the sake of a deal, especially now that talks with 
Pyongyang are on hold.
  What he did in North Korea was right. He must do the same thing in 
China--hold out because he has the upper hand--until we get China to do 
the right thing. Just because an accord is, for the moment, out of 
reach in North Korea does not mean that the President should be any 
more eager to strike one with China if the terms are inadequate or 
unacceptable.
  The President deserves credit for bringing China to the negotiating 
table with tariffs, but he must not squander that opportunity by 
cutting a deal that fails to achieve American priorities. Unless China 
promises to end its predatory cyber theft of American intellectual 
property and know-how, unless China promises to stop artificially 
propping up its businesses, unless China promises to end its practice 
of forcing American companies to give away their IP to their future 
Chinese competitors in order to do business in China, President Trump 
should walk away from the negotiations once again.
  As important as North Korea is to national security, China is just as 
critical--maybe even more critical--to American economic security. 
President Trump and his team have a generational imperative to get this 
one right. They have a generational imperative not to squander the 
chance to achieve permanent reforms to China's economic relations with 
the world, changes that would finally put American investors, 
businesses, and workers on a level playing field.