[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 14, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 China

  Madam President, finally, on China, tomorrow the United States will 
complete a signing ceremony for the so-called phase one trade agreement 
with China. After 18 months of negotiations, the phase one deal is 
remarkable for how little it achieves at an enormous price.
  President Trump has agreed to scale back some tariffs on Chinese 
goods in exchange for temporary assurances that China will increase its 
purchase of U.S. exports over the next few years, particularly in 
agriculture.
  For all the effort and turmoil over the past few years, the deal 
President Trump will sign tomorrow hardly seems to advance the United 
States past square one. It fails to address the deep structural 
inequalities in the trade relationship between China and the United 
States.
  For the past decade, China has stolen American intellectual property 
through forced technology transfers of our companies and through 
outright cyber theft. The President's phase one deal doesn't even 
address this issue. China has routinely subsidized its most important 
domestic industries. Not just labor-intensive industries but even 
industries like Huawei are subsidized to gain unfair advantage over 
American companies. China has dumped goods illegally into our markets. 
It has manipulated its currency to keep prices low. The President's 
phase one deal doesn't address any of these issues.
  Not only does this deal fail to make any meaningful progress toward 
ending China's most flagrant abuses, what it does achieve on the 
agricultural side may well be a day late and a dollar short. China has 
already made long-term contracts with other producers of soybeans and 
other goods in places like Argentina and Brazil. American farmers have 
already lost billions over the last 2 years, watched their markets 
disappear, and too many American farms have gone bankrupt in the time 
that it took President Trump to reach this deal.
  I have publicly praised the President when he is tough on China, at 
some political cost. I have said he has had better instincts on China 
than previous administrations. Few politicians have been talking about 
securing real reforms to China's economic policies longer than I have. 
But I fear that with an election around the corner, the President is 
taking the easy way out--settling for a weak deal that will cost 
American businesses, American farmers, and American workers for years 
and years to come.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.