Ranking Member Shaheen Statement on President Trump’s Meeting with President Xi in Seoul

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement following President Trump's meeting with President Xi in Seoul, South Korea.

"Art of the Deal this was not. President Trump's much-heralded meeting with President Xi appears to have merely brought us a few steps closer to where we started at the beginning of this costly trade war, with little else to show for it and significant harm to American workers, businesses and farmers along the way.

"President Trump entered this meeting from a position of weakness after nearly a year of erratic policies that have driven up costs for American families, alienated allies and eroded the very sources of strength we need to compete with China. The limited outcomes are a direct result of the absence of a coherent long-term American strategy to leverage our alliances, protect our technological advantages and hold China accountable for its destabilizing conduct across the Indo-Pacific. The President's incoherent and haphazard use of tariffs has left China with virtually the same tariffs as many of our allies in Southeast Asia and lower tariffs than Canada and India-all just to get back to where we started on rare earth exports and to secure commitments on fentanyl precursors that were always within China's capacity. President Trump's insistence on taxing American families and businesses and failure to develop a global economic strategy has raised costs at home and weakened our ability to respond effectively to China's unfair economic practices.

"I'm particularly concerned that President Trump appears to believe China can play a positive role in ending Russia's murderous war in Ukraine, when Beijing is in fact Moscow's top buyer of oil and its number one provider of critical technologies to fuel its war machine. I welcome apparent commitments made by the PRC to clamp down on the fentanyl precursors that are killing so many Americans, but follow-through by the Trump Administration will be critical in ensuring these promises are fulfilled.

"What America needs is not another short-term 'deal' but a durable, bipartisan strategy that provides economic stability to American consumers, restores our alliances and reasserts U.S. leadership for the long game. Ahead of a potential trip by President Trump to Beijing, it is incumbent on the Administration to correct its course and develop a stronger approach to protect America's economic and security interests."

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