According to Sen. Sasse, “I’ve been meeting with farmers and ranchers all morning. I have not yet heard one who thinks the U.S. has won anything from the Chinese leadership.They’re scared to death.”
Last month, Sen. Sasse stated that Pres. Trump “has no actual plan” to win the trade war with China. He added, “He’s threatening to light American agriculture on fire. Let’s absolutely take on Chinese bad behavior, but with a plan that punishes them instead of us. This is the dumbest possible way to do this.”
Several other Republican senators including Jeff Flake of Arizona and Jerry Moran of Kansas expressed concerned about the administration’s action on ZTE.
Sen. Flake commented, “What I’m concerned is there seems to be a lot of adhocery going on. Steel tariffs — you impose them and then go to [foreign trading partners] and say ‘if you want an exemption, this is what you need to do.”
He added, “Then you end up with that ZTE debacle where you promise them some kind of relief from sanctions. We have a structure to this already. It’s called the WTO.”
