Van Hollen Discusses Trade, ZTE with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer
This afternoon, U.S. Senator
Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joined CNN’s Wolf Blitzer to discuss trade and the
Chinese Telecommunications company ZTE. Senator Van Hollen continues to press
the Administration on this national security issue in the aftermath of trade
talks with China falling apart. The Senator’s amendment to prohibit the President from modifying penalties on
sanctioned Chinese telecommunication companies like ZTE – which passed in the Banking Committee with broad
bipartisan support — is also included in
the National Defense Authorization Act, which is expected to be taken up by
the Senate shortly.
Video
of the exchange is available here
and a transcript is available below.
WOLF BLITZER,
CNN: Let's get to some substantive policy issues that could have an impact
on the elections. Countries like Canada, a close U.S. ally, maybe the closest
U.S. ally, Mexico, the European Union – they promised retaliatory trade moves
in response to steep new tariffs announced by the Trump Administration. Can the
Senate step in? Will Senate Republicans join Senate Democrats to do anything
about this? What's your perspective?
SENATOR CHRIS
VAN HOLLEN (D-Md.): So, Wolf, there's big bipartisan concern in the Senate
about these moves. And let's distinguish between China on the one hand and
Canada, Mexico, and our European allies on the other. There's no doubt that
China has been trying to steal our technology secrets. And if you want to do
business in China, they essentially hold up an American company and say you
have to do a joint venture with us so they can get access to that technology,
and we need to clamp down on that. But penalizing our European allies is a big
mistake, and it’s also going to boomerang on the American consumer. Let's
remember what we're talking about, raising tariffs is raising taxes on American
consumers. I can tell you in my state of Maryland, the Maryland Chamber of
Commerce is very nervous at what's happening. Farmers on the Eastern Shore of
Maryland – like around the country – are very nervous about having their
markets closed down, and the reality is for American consumers, they're going
to be paying more on items that they're purchasing here in the United States.
So it's a hidden tax increase – I think it’s going to come back to bite us. And
finally, Wolf, the President should not be trading off national security issues
for some of these trade issues, as he has been with respect to the Chinese
telecommunications company ZTE.
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