DeSantis Warns Of U.S. Dependency On China, Calls For Measures To Counter Influence

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed many bills into law on Monday to “combat the influence” of the Chinese Communist Party. DeSantis expressed concern over the United States' economic dependency on China, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and urged measures to counter China's influence and assert economic sovereignty. He emphasized the need to bring supply chains home and expand the industrial base in America.

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DeSantis: “When you see what they’re doing in the western hemisphere to expand their influence, we really need to have a unified effort in this country to deter the CCP’s ambitions and their influence. And part of that is asserting our economic sovereignty.

One of the things that we saw throughout the years, but Covid was, I think, the most dramatic. Almost anything that you needed for Covid — and look, some of the stuff people were screaming for in hindsight, you probably didn’t need it, but people didn’t know at the time. So they were doing it. I think almost 100 percent of it was produced in China. It was pretty close if it’s not 100 percent.

And there are so many things that our economy is dependent on China for, and it’s given them more leverage and more power as a result. So we do need to assert our economic sovereignty. Part of that is bringing supply chains home and — and getting more stuff here, as we build up our military, which, you know, I know this president won’t do but but we need to do.

You know, you’re also expanding the industrial base here in America, which we need to do to counter China. So today, we’re really recognizing the threat and we’re taking action and really doing measures that no other state has done at this level. And I want to thank the legislature for recognizing that we needed to step up and make things happen.”