Meet the Press - September 3, 2023
Interview
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Otherwise, they will deem it as just too risky and as I said uninvestable.
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Thank you. Good morning.
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Yeah. First, let me say that my counterpart, the Chinese Minister of Commerce, Minister Wang, did come to see me in the spring, and invited me to China. Which is -- you know, I accepted his invitation. So, it's not entirely true. He came here. It was a good visit. But you make a good point. And kind of the theme of my trip was we need dialogue, we need contact and communication, but we also need action. You know, in my trip, even the most senior Chinese officials said all of the right things, said that they wanted to have a robust commercial relationship, and treat American businesses fairly on the ground in China. And my message was, "Actions speak louder than words." So I think you make a fair point and we're looking to see whether China does do a better job at treating U.S. businesses fairly, and workers, you know, leveling the playing field for our workers.
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You know, look this a -- they did hack me, which was unappreciated, to say the least. I brought it up, clearly. Put it right on the table. By the way, I brought up all -- many of our grievances on behalf of our national security concerns, concerns of U.S. labor, concerns of U.S. business. Didn't pull any punches. Still though, it's a complicated relationship. There's no doubt about it. We are in a fierce competition with China at every level and anyone who tells you differently is naive. All of that being said, we have to manage this competition. Conflict is in no one's interest. We need to manage the competition responsibly. That's good for America. That's good for the world. And in that respect, I think our commercial relationship, which is very large and growing, and underpins hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs, our commercial relationship, if stable, can be kind of a ballast for the entire relationship. And anything we do that can create stability is, in fact, good for the American people.
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Look, I'll say this. It's clearly true, the facts speak for themselves on this one, that when China was more market-oriented and reform-minded, their economy, you know, they lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. I was in Shanghai. It's quite stunning to see the progress Shanghai's made in the past 20 years. And that -- so it's clearly true that when they were more market-focused and reform-oriented, Chinese economy was stronger. And so that's my point. It's not so much leverage, it's that it does seem to be true that it's in their self-interest to be less antagonistic to U.S. business.
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We are trying to choke their military capacity. So if they feel that, that means our strategy's working. We are not going to -- certainly on my watch, we are not going to sell the most sophisticated American chip to China that they want for their military capacity.
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But that being said --
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Absolutely. Yes. But I do want to be clear. We will also still continue to sell, you know, billions of dollars of chips a year to China because the vast majority of chips that are made are -- are not the leading edge, cutting edge that I'm talking about. It's hard. That's hard for people to accept. It's kind of a nuanced, complex message and policy reality. But it is the reality because, you know, export controls are about national security, not an economic advantage. So we're going to be as strict as strict can be, and as hardline as possible, denying China the most sophisticated chips. But we're also going to sell, you know, like I said, billions of dollars of less sophisticated chips, which by the way, Chuck, is good for America. Creates revenue for American companies, which they can plow back into research and development, which allows us to lead the world in innovation.
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So first of all, I want to be clear. They did complete their mission. The hurricane hunters did complete their mission. In fact, they're not allowed to continue to fly once the hurricane hits land. It's too dangerous. So, you know, we got the job done. The rest of it was routine maintenance. One of these planes had been flying nonstop for 12 days, and so had to go down for maintenance. All of that being said, we do need more resources and Congress has just given us more resources. These planes are really expensive, as you might imagine and we will continue to work with Congress. We plan to ask for even more resources because we need to get the job done.
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Yes. We will make sure that happens.
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100%. I talked to him right before I left for China. He gave me the best advice of about 200 people that I spoke with. I talked to business leaders, other folks in the administration. He was sharp. He was clear. He's got a ton of energy, and I'm so excited to be on his team.
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Thank you.
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