Nikki Haley called for a “fundamental shift” on Tuesday in the nation’s approach to China and pledged to revoke normal trade relations with the Asian giant in response to human rights abuses and the role they have played in the fentanyl crisis.
Ms. Haley, a contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said more than 20 years after the U.S. normalized trade relations with China — one of the nation’s top trade partners — it is time for a rethink.
“As president, I will push Congress to revoke permanent normal trade relations until the flow of fentanyl ends,” she said in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. “If China wants to start normal trade again, it has to stop killing Americans.”
Looking to put her imprint on the 2024 foreign policy debate, Ms. Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, said President Biden is soft on China and the approach of her ex-boss, former President Donald Trump, was too short-sighted.
Ms. Haley said her vision involves the United States helping Ukraine bring the war with Russia to a “decisive end.” She insisted China will be less likely to try to invade Taiwan if Russia loses the war.
“If America and the West abandon Ukraine, and Russia succeeds in taking its territory and freedom, China will hear an unmistakable message,” Ms. Haley said. “That message can only encourage China to invade Taiwan as soon as possible.”
She said a China invasion of Taiwan would be met with more than “a few slap-on-the-wrist sanctions.”
“It would mean a full-blown economic decoupling that would massively damage China,” she said.
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen told a congressional panel this month it would “be disastrous for us to attempt to decouple from China.”
Ms. Haley said on Tuesday that China should be barred from purchasing more land in the United States and forced to sell the parcels it has already bought. She said universities that receive money from China should be barred from receiving federal funds, and said former members of Congress and military leaders should be banned from lobbying on China’s behalf.
“Communist China is the greatest threat to American security and prosperity by far,” Ms. Haley said in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. “It has the stated goal of diminishing American influence in the world and replacing it with its own.”
Ms. Haley said Mr. Biden has been “too slow and weak in helping Ukraine” and too timid with China.
“They are asleep at the wheel,” she said. “They are looking more for appeasement than they are for strength.”
Mr. Biden has been trying to improve relations with China. His efforts have been complicated by suspected Chinese spying, accusations of human rights offenses against the Uyghurs, ties to Russia, and simmering tension over Taiwan.
Ms. Haley, meanwhile, credited Mr. Trump with forcing Democrats and Republicans to take off their blinders and overhaul trade relations with China.
“But Trump did too little about the rest of the Chinese threat,” Ms. Haley said.
Ms. Haley said Mr. Trump failed to put the nation on a stronger military footing in Asia, failed to stop the “flow of American technology and investment into the Chinese military” and failed to “effectively rally our allies against the Chinese threat.”
“He also showed moral weakness,” she said. “In his zeal to befriend President Xi [Jinping], Trump congratulated the Communist party on its 70th anniversary of conquering China.”
“That sent a wrong message to the world,” she said. “Chinese Communist must be condemned, never congratulated.”
Ms. Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, is looking to get some momentum going in the race for the GOP nomination and the chance for a general election showdown with President Biden.
Mr. Trump, however, has been sitting atop a massive lead in the polls roughly seven months out from the start of the caucuses and primaries.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of President Xi Jinping of China.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.