Rubio Says Government Should Intervene More in Trade
Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican who said he was tough on China before more senators got on the bandwagon, said corporate interests and U.S. interests have diverged when it comes to globalization. Rubio, who represents Florida, was speaking at a American Compass event June 21 on Capitol Hill.
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Rubio, a co-sponsor of a bill that would end Chinese exports' eligibility for de minimis, said he once believed the Republican orthodoxy that when companies seek a producer that can make a good at the lowest price, it benefits consumers and investors.
But, he said, by taking an attitude that it doesn't matter where you make things, "we created these pockets of despair" in cities and towns where factory jobs left for cheaper countries. And, moreover, he said, "We've deindustrialized America." He said the U.S. is now unable to make things that Americans invented.
Rubio said he still believes in the wisdom of free markets, but when strategic goods like telecommunications are available only from China, it puts the U.S. in a "precarious situation."
He also said he still believes in limited government, so it's not easy to put into practice a philosophy that corporations should be prevented from offshoring some products.
"We have to be careful about how you define the national interest, because every industry will argue they're in the national interest," he said. He said, for instance, it's more important to have domestic production of medicines than it is to have textile and apparel production.
Rubio said those with his view are still a minority in the Republican Party. He said Republicans have generally been receptive to business interests' lobbying, with the attitude: "We need to listen to these people, they know how to make a lot of money." But he said the interests of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Chase CEO Jamie Dimon are not aligned with America's national interests.
Rubio told the audience, as he has before, that the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which he pushed hard to get signed into law, was met with lots of opposition from corporations.
He joked that no company was running ads on TV: "Tell them, 'Yes to slave labor.' But they really worked hard behind the scenes to make sure it didn't pass."