00:00Mr. President, I rise today to speak about America's future.
00:03It is a future that must be secure.
00:06It's a future that must be prosperous.
00:08And it's, most importantly, a future that must be free of all dependency from communist China.
00:14For decades, weak policies allowed China to exploit our workers, exploit our innovation, and exploit our markets.
00:23Under Republican leadership, America is, once again, reclaiming our strength.
00:30Yesterday, the Senate confirmed David Perdue to be the ambassador to China.
00:35He's a proven leader, a former senator, extensive experience dealing with China that he's had in the past, equips him to represent American interests abroad.
00:46And he will do it firmly.
00:48His confirmation shows that Beijing, that under President Trump, that America will put our workers, our families, and our security first.
01:00The United States seeks a relationship with China, one that's fair, one that is respectful, and one that is reciprocal.
01:08Yet China's predatory actions demand a robust response.
01:13China's economic abuses are outrageous.
01:15What we're seeing is a predatory playbook.
01:21And using it in the past, China's gained an unfair advantage over global trade.
01:26China rigged the game with subsidies from the state, with currency manipulation, with market access barriers, and forced technology transfers.
01:36China abused our free enterprise and our open markets.
01:41And at the same time, they slammed the door on American businesses.
01:45This came at the expense of American jobs, American innovation, and American security.
01:50The risks of dependency are serious.
01:54Just this year, China banned exports from several critical minerals that came to the United States.
02:01These critical minerals are vital for our technology as well as our national defense.
02:07So what's next?
02:09Medical supplies?
02:10Today, 90% of U.S. antibiotics are stamped with Made in China.
02:16We can't forget the lessons learned during the COVID pandemic.
02:20We saw how dangerous it is to depend upon communist China.
02:25For anything, but certainly for life-saving medicines and supplies.
02:29Our American, every American agreed that the United States needed to work aggressively to bring these critical supply chains home.
02:40We said, never again will we find ourselves in this dependent position.
02:46Because the costs of inaction are real.
02:50Since China joined the World Trade Organization back in 2001, more than 2 million American jobs vanished.
02:56Jobs that our Republicans in Congress and in the White House are working to bring back with our economic policies.
03:05China's intellectual property theft alone cost America $600 billion a year.
03:11The Department of Justice links China to 4 out of 5 economic espionage cases.
03:18China's infiltrating our culture, our skies, and our farmland.
03:24They do this because they see us as weak.
03:27Today, China owns farmland in 27 states, often near military bases.
03:32My Wyoming colleague, Senator Cynthia Lummis, has legislation that would stop China from buying farmland next to federal lands.
03:41This will be a safeguard to our national security.
03:47China's role in the fentanyl crisis is equally alarming.
03:51A recent report from the House Select Committee on Communist China exposed the depth of the Chinese Communist Party's involvement.
03:5897% of the illicit fentanyl ingredients come from China.
04:03The Chinese government subsidizes these ingredients, and it shields traffickers from prosecution.
04:11This crisis has killed nearly 5, nearly 50,000 Americans last year, and this is a direct result of China exporting illicit fentanyl.
04:22President Trump has rightly acted to stop this deadly flood of drugs into our country.
04:27Ambassador David Perdue will press China to end its exports of fentanyl.
04:35Militarily, China's rapid buildup is a growing menace.
04:40Their military spending has skyrocketed.
04:43Today, China has the world's largest army.
04:45It is the world's largest navy.
04:47It has the world's second most advanced air force.
04:50China has quadrupled their intercontinental ballistic missiles from 100 to 400.
