(CNS News.com) – When asked if the United States can engage in "free trade" with a Communist country such as China, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said, “I think every American ought to stop buying anything made in Communist China.”
At the Capitol on Tuesday, CNS News asked Sen. Scott, “The United States' trade deficit with China in 2021 was more than $300 billion for the tenth year in a row. Can the United States have free trade with a Communist country?”
The senator said, “Well, first off, I think we ought to stop buying anything from Communist China. The government of China takes all of the profits and uses it to basically be an unbelievable adversary to put into their military to try to defeat us.”
“They produce fentanyl to try and kill our American citizens. tThey steal our jobs and technology,” he added. "I think every American ought to stop buying anything made in Communist China.”
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."