Barr says US is too reliant on Chinese commerce

Attorney General William Barr said Thursday the United States has become too reliant on Chinese goods and services, including face masks and other equipment used to combat the coronavirus pandemic. 

Barr’s speech, which took place at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich., was yet another criticism the Trump administration levied against China. Barr denounced the Asian country and claimed that it was trying to take over a commanding position in the global economy. 

“The People’s Republic of China is now engaged in an economic blitzkrieg, an aggressive, orchestrated, whole-of-government — indeed, whole-of-society — campaign to seize the commanding heights of the global economy and to surpass the U.S. as the world’s preeminent superpower,” Barr said.

Barr also accused China of hoarding PPE in March and blocking producers from exporting them to countries in need. He also claimed the Chinese government sought to exploit the shortage for “propaganda purposes.”

Earlier in the year, as U.S. hospitals were bombarded with COVID-19 patients, front-line health care workers were lacking personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, shields and gowns, and local governments were purchasing this equipment from China.

“China’s dominance of the world market for medical goods goes beyond masks and gowns,” Barr said Thursday, adding that the country also produces the majority of medical devices used in the U.S. 

Barr’s wide-ranging speech described a tactic being used by the Chinese Communist Party to gain leverage over U.S. corporate leaders. 

“Globalization does not always point in the direction of greater freedom. A world marching to the beat of Communist China’s drums will not be a hospitable one for institutions that depend on free markets, free trade, or the free exchange of ideas,” Barr said.

The attorney general also accused film producers in Hollywood of censoring themselves to appease China.

“Every year at the Academy Awards, Americans are lectured about how this country falls short of Hollywood’s ideals of social justice,” Barr said. “But Hollywood now regularly censors its own movies to appease the Chinese Communist Party, the world’s most powerful violator of human rights.”

Barr’s comments come as economic tensions between China and the U.S. have escalated in recent days after President Trump signed an executive order earlier this week that would deny Hong Kong special economic treatment due to the mainland’s new national security law. 

On Thursday, China hit back and accused the U.S. of using “gangster logic” when Trump signed the order, arguing that “shameless threats” from the American government are “bullying behavior.”

The Chinese government has also threatened retaliation in response to the administration’s new sanctions.