(CNS News.com) – When asked if it is possible for the U.S. to engage in free trade with a communist country such as China, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) did not answer directly but said the U.S. must stand up against China’s espionage, its military, and its holding hostage of America’s supply chains.
At the Capitol on Tuesday, CNS News asked Sen. Cruz, “The U.S. trade deficit with China in 2021 was more than $300 billion for the tenth year in a row. Can the U.S. have free trade with a Communist country?”
The senator said, “We need a far more serious approach to competing with China. China poses the single greatest geopolitical threat to the United States over the next century. We need to stand up to their espionage, to their military threat, and to their efforts to hold our supply chain hostage.”
As the Census Bureau reported yesterday, the United States ran a $355,301,700,000 merchandise trade deficit with the People’s Republic of China in 2021, marking the tenth straight year the U.S. trade deficit with China has topped $300 billion. In 2018, the deficit hit an all-time high of $418,232,900,000.
During 2021, the United States exported $151,065,200,000 in products to China, but then imported $506,366,900,000 in products from China, resulting in $657,432,100,000 in total trade between the two countries -- and a $355,301,700,000 deficit for the United States.
In its latest report on human rights in China, the State Department said that China is "an authoritarian state," where the "Chinese Communist Party is the paramount authority." "Significant human rights issues," it said, "included: ... forced labor and trafficking in persons; severe restrictions on labor rights, including a ban on workers organizing or joining unions of their own choosing; and child labor."