During Thursday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) questioned Trump’s Nominee to be the Ambassador to China, David Perdue, about the trafficking of fentanyl into the U.S.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Senator Daines.
00:03Dr. Crowley, congratulations on your nominations.
00:06Good to have you here today.
00:08David, as I'm sitting here, I'm struck by thinking 30 years ago, as I'm looking at you
00:14and Bonnie, for all I know, we could have been on the Star Ferry together crossing the
00:18harbor there in Hong Kong when we had two little ones that were born in Hong Kong, going
00:23from Guangzhou into Hong Kong for sometimes some R&R.
00:27Little did we know that we'd be sitting here today, some 30 years later, talking about
00:31your nomination to be the United States Ambassador to China, and what a journey it's been.
00:36And I can't think of a better nominee, somebody who understands China, somebody who has been
00:42a successful businessman, a United States Senator, a member of this Foreign Relations
00:47Committee, and who has a passion for representing America proudly in China, and importantly,
00:54has the great respect that you do of President Trump, and your respect of the President,
00:59that mutual, strong relationship that you have that's been based on years of working
01:05together.
01:06There's just not a better guy to be going to Beijing for the United States than David
01:10Perdue.
01:12We've discussed the trafficking of fentanyl.
01:15Senator Scott brought that up briefly.
01:18Now the precursors that China is sending into Mexico, Canada, and the United States are
01:24a threat to our national security.
01:27Our leading cause of death for 18 to 45-year-olds in the United States is fentanyl poisoning.
01:34It's a public health emergency.
01:36We have a drug war going on right now in the United States with fentanyl.
01:42China sadly remains the single largest provider of these deadly chemicals, we call them precursors,
01:50that the cartels then manufacture and bring across the southern border into our communities.
01:56President Trump has made this a priority to stem, to stop this poisonous tide.
02:01The Senate is eager to help.
02:04David, how can you, if confirmed as United States Ambassador to China, work with both
02:11the American and the Chinese governments to stem the flow of deadly fentanyl into my state
02:17of Montana, into your home state of Georgia, and other communities across America?
02:23Well, Senator, I wish I had known you 30 years ago when we were both over there.
02:28I want to applaud what you've just done and what you've continued to do since you've been
02:32in not only the Senate but in the House as well, and that is interface with your friends
02:38and colleagues and people in China, standing up to them and telling them what's important
02:43to us.
02:44The representation of U.S. interests has been the most powerful thing I've seen outside
02:47of presidential actions in my tenure in the last 10 years.
02:51I want to thank you for that.
02:52I know you just made a recent trip on this very topic.
02:55Look, we kill, this fentanyl poisoning kills more Americans in one year than died in Vietnam
03:01over 20 years.
03:03So this is, President Trump has made a top priority of stopping this flow of this deadly
03:08drug into the United States.
03:09It's a multifaceted thing.
03:11It starts with the precursors in China.
03:13It goes to Canada and Mexico where this is now being transferred into the United States.
03:18As ambassador, I will echo your priority as well as the President's priority that this
03:23is one of our top priorities.
03:25The Chinese, as you know, respect strength.
03:27They don't like a lot of complaining unless they see action.
03:30And right now, President Trump put two tariffs on this one issue.
03:34That's action.
03:35And I believe we'll see some response to that in the near future, hopefully.
03:41I want to shift gears and talk about the level playing field that we need for American companies
03:47who are doing business in China.
03:50We have American companies last year, about $500 billion worth of business in China.
03:56Chinese companies in the United States did about $75 billion.
04:00So I know we focus a lot on the $300 billion trade deficit.
04:05But we right now have about a $400 billion revenue surplus because American companies
04:10are in there doing business, selling to the Chinese consumer.
04:15And it's important that they keep winning over there because those dollars then flow
04:17down to R&D to build next generation, whether it's aircraft at Boeing and so forth.
04:23Another important topic for me personally for Montana is making sure we have access
04:28for agricultural products.
04:31It's now a $1.6 billion beef market for the United States producers.
04:36It's the second largest beef market in the world is China.
04:41And we are now facing some steep headwinds because the Chinese government did not renew
04:47export licenses to 394 basically processors in the United States.
04:52And this is going to affect about 90 to 95 percent of our beef exports to China, this
04:57huge market.
04:58David, as ambassador, how would you work to make American companies as well as our farmers
05:06and our ranchers more competitive in that significant and huge $1.4 billion consumer
05:12Chinese market?
05:13Well, we already recognize that they import 30 percent of their food.
05:18The second thing is that being from Georgia, ag is a little over half of our total GDP.
05:25And I know in Montana it's very important.
05:27I want to applaud you again for the work that you did back in the first administration of
05:31Donald Trump in getting that one trade deal done and the first piece about ag.
05:35It wouldn't happen without your personal leadership.
05:37As ambassador, I will try to, and I said it in my opening remarks, increase the dialogue
05:43pace on these very important issues, both to us and to China.
05:47Look, we want reciprocal trade, fair and open reciprocal trade.
05:52That's what President Trump is trying to do.
05:54And ag is one of the major pieces of ammunition we have to export into China.
05:59Thank you, David.