A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Let's get a view now from Congress with Representative Ro Khanna of California. He's a top Democrat on the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and China. Congressman, so I've heard over the weekend some of the things that you hope are accomplished by President Trump on this trip to China, so we'll try and get to as many of them as possible. Let's start off with soybeans. China effectively is buying no more U.S. soybeans, getting 70% of their supply from Brazil. Argentina is also selling to China as well. How can that reverse itself? How can China go back to buying U.S. soybeans?
RO KHANNA: Well, the president needs to insist that they do. He said he was going to get a better deal for American farmers, but he has not. And I spent the weekend on an Ohio farm meeting with 60 farmers. They're very concerned that their soybean is not being bought, and they're concerned that their fertilizer costs - the cost of nitrogen, ammonia, urea have gone through the roof because of the war in Iran. The president needs to insist that China buy more of the - our soybeans to lower the trade deficit.
MARTÍNEZ: Is it just one of those things where the countries can just stop this tariff war against each other and then that things can snap back to the way they used to be?
KHANNA: Well, I think it's about the president insisting that the China trade deficit come down. He said he was going to get a better deal with China when he campaigned, and yet, actually, he's gotten a worse deal. I mean, our soybeans aren't being sold. China actually is setting up manufacturing in the United States.
One of the glass manufacturers they've set up in Ohio is abusing their workers, is still being state-subsidized. And China is still putting steel in the United States. In fact, when I was at the Cleveland port, I saw Chinese steel there, as opposed to American steel. And when I went on Fox to talk about this yesterday, the president two times put on Truth Social attacking me because I was talking about getting a better deal for American workers, American manufacturers and American farmers.
MARTÍNEZ: A while back, Congressman, I spoke to a soybean farmer who was worried because he told me that, when a buyer buys from somewhere else, they get very used to the transaction. In other words, it's hard to get them back. So what's in it for China? If you say all President Trump has to do is insist, what's in it for China to do what he says?
KHANNA: Well, we're a huge market for China. We buy a lot of their consumer electronics. We have a $300 billion trade deficit. They need the American market. And what we need to say is that we want to trade. We don't want to just decouple, but it's got to be fair. It can't be that they're buying - we're buying all their products and they're not buying from us.
The problem is that the war in Iran has complicated this. We now need China and other nations' help to get the Strait of Hormuz open and to end the war and to negotiate with Iran, because right now our gas prices are high and our fertilizer costs are high. And the important thing to understand about the fertilizer costs being high, urea and ammonia, is that's not just hurting American farmers. This is why so many Americans are having high bills when they go to the grocery store.
MARTÍNEZ: If, as you said, President Trump needs China at this point, is he showing up to this trip with his hat in his hand, essentially?
KHANNA: Well, he does not have much leverage. I mean, China is holding us hostage because of rare earths and critical minerals. They are in a leveraged position because of the war in Iran. I mean, we have used a lot of our ammunition. Iran now is blocking the Strait of Hormuz. So he's compromised America's strategic interests, but hopefully he can start to make progress.
One, we need to get a negotiated solution in Iran and end the war. That will bring down gas and food prices. Second, we need to fight for our farmers to get our soybean exports again. And third, we need to stand up for our manufacturers. We need to insist that China not hold hostage rare earths and critical minerals, and we need to make sure that they're buying from us in a fair way.
MARTÍNEZ: One of the other things that you've mentioned is to stop unfair trade practices in the U.S. for Chinese factories. How is that impacting this upcoming trip?
KHANNA: Well, I was up in Meadville, Pennsylvania. There's a glass manufacturer there. And they said, well, they're competing with a Chinese company in Ohio that are bringing people who are undocumented, that are abusing their workers, that are getting state subsidies. That can't go on. And then we, the China committee, went to Michigan.
And they're concerned that China is going to sell connected cars to the United States. And that should not be allowed. They should not be allowed to have subsidized cars that also could be a threat to our surveillance and hurt our automakers. So the president needs to have a hard line that they should not be allowed to set up shop in America if they're getting state subsidies or abusing American workers.
MARTÍNEZ: Chinese cars, as far as I know, Congressman, are not sold in the United States. But I have been actually seeing them in California - our state, California - coming in from Mexico. Could something like stopping Chinese cars at the border be on the table at this point?
KHANNA: Yeah. So you're right that the regulations are there that they can't directly be sold. But Bernie Moreno and Elissa Slotkin have a bill to make that a law, and it should be part of the negotiation. And we need to make sure they don't bypass the direct sale into the United States by going through U.S. - Mexico or Canada and getting the cars through there. This really is - it's not just that it's hurting American autoworkers. It's also putting Americans at risk with the surveillance and the technology on those cars.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, you've criticized the president for, quote, treating Taiwan like a "bargaining chip" after he discussed with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, arms sales to Taiwan. What are you hoping he'll do this time around on Taiwan?
KHANNA: He should just be very clear on the One China policy, which is that it is unacceptable for China to militarily put pressure on Taiwan, that the future of Taiwan and China needs to be determined through peaceful negotiation between the two and that he will not use Taiwan as a bargaining chip, and America will not allow China to continue stronger patrols around Taiwan and continue to put military pressure on Taiwan.
MARTÍNEZ: Congressman, if President Trump can return from China with just one of your priorities in the bag, which do you hope it would be?
KHANNA: A commitment on the rare earths and critical minerals, because without the rare earths and critical minerals, we can't build our drones. We can't build our interceptors. We can't build a lot of our cars. Those are critical to the American economy. Right now, he's only gotten a one-year agreement on that. We need to make sure China is not the world's monopoly on critical minerals and rare earths.
MARTÍNEZ: And as a worst-case scenario, no deals on anything?
KHANNA: The worst-case scenario is no deal on anything, that we're hostage to China's monopoly, that China keeps state subsidizing industry and dumping into the United States, that China continues to take advantage over what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California, ranking member of the House Select Committee on China. Thank you.
KHANNA: Thank you.
MARTÍNEZ: Our co-host Steve Inskeep is in China with an NPR team covering Trump's visit which Xi. Listen for Steve's reporting this week on MORNING EDITION.
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