US Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer discussed US trade policy and China’s economic goals on Friday’s “Ingraham Angle” on the Fox News Channel.
[November 4, 2017 | Breitbart]
Partial Transcript as Follows:
INGRAHAM: “China has something called their 2025 project. It’s their focus to dominate every major industry from 3D printing, to rare earth, to heavy manufacturing, tool manufacturing. It’s really ambitious. Is it just kind of pie in the sky thinking, or is there a real opportunity for China to dominate all those industries?”
AMBASSADOR LIGHTHIZER: “It’s a very, very serious challenge, not just to us, but to Europe, Japan, and the global trading system. And basically, it’s very focused. It is the areas you talked about, but also aerospace, on new energy vehicles. I mean, they want to be on top of all the high tech, all the cutting-edge economic areas. and it’s smart for them to do it. I mean, they’re doing something that’s in their interest and that they should do. We should be in a position to defend ourselves with the same amount of vigor. And I think that this president will do that. But that is a genuine threat. It’s a combination of massive subsidies, of closed markets, and of focus on technology transfer. So, it’s a very, very serious threat in all of those areas, and if you go through the parts of our economy that are affected by it, it’s hard to find any kind of a tech part that’s not potentially adversely affected by this.”
…
INGRAHAM: “So when they say you’re going to start a trade war you say?”
LIGHTHIZER: “We’re not starting a trade war at all. We have exactly the same objective as the Chamber of Commerce, exactly the same objective. The question is how do we get there? We’ve tried it their way for 25 years. Since at least 1995, we tried it their way. All I am saying is let’s try a different route for a little bit. The result of their way, I would suggest, is a $750 billion goods deficit, and an overall goods and services deficit of $500 billion. I mean, these are staggering numbers. We ought to try something else. I think we’re going to end up with more efficiency. We’re going to end up with more global wealth. it’s going to be fine for businesses, but most importantly, it’s going to be fine for American workers and American farmers who need a break. And part of this whole trade idea, this whole public contract is that we give fair trade in return for open markets, and that’s what all the workers bought into. And until now they really haven’t got it, but with this president, I think they’re going to get it.”
