Whether it’s their militarization of islands in the South China Sea, their use of heavy subsidies to overwhelm and take over strategic industries or outright theft of intellectual property – China’s Communist regime has steadily advanced at the expense of the rest of the world. This global pandemic, which they unleashed, has underscored that we have become far too dependent on China for critical supplies – even our vital medical and pharmaceutical supplies.

We must hold China accountable and one of the first steps is to reduce and eliminate our dependency. China’s Communist leadership understands the political implications of the economic power they’ve unfairly attained. We need to regain fairness and reciprocity, and in doing so, we will hit them where it hurts as we make “Made in the USA” the theme of our nation again.

We must accelerate the movement of our critical supply chains home immediately. As a member of President Trump’s Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups – the White House Economic Recovery Task Force – I have been working with the Trump administration on this key issue.

This is a process that was already underway thanks to important steps taken back in 2017 to make America more competitive. We undertook a wave of regulatory reform and then the 2017 tax reform that took American corporate tax rates from a top marginal rate of 35 percent – the least competitive in the world – to 21 percent. We undertook capital expensing programs that incentivized capital investment – making America the most attractive and fastest growing market economy in the world. At the same time, President Trump stood up to China – using tariffs to demonstrate to China that we would no longer tolerate the lack of fairness and reciprocity that has been allowed by prior administrations. With a Phase One trade deal in place, we were beginning to see the type of change necessary to fundamentally reform our relationship with China. That was before the pandemic. China’s coverup led to the global spread of the pandemic and so far the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives and millions of jobs around the world.

This carnage has underscored to all Americans that we have to come back stronger than ever. One of the critical steps toward that objective is to make America the best country in the world to invest capital. I’d like to look at making our corporate tax rates even more competitive. That will enhance the return on capital invested here in America and accelerate growth. It will attract companies to American soil and encourage American companies to stay right here in the United States.

Additionally, we need to build on President Trump’s success in eliminating redundant, burdensome, and costly regulations.

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