Hudson Think Tank Fellows Hope Trump Will Impose Broad Sanctions Program on China

December 19, 2023 by Mara Lee|Other U.S.

A former State Department official who advised on sanctions and money laundering, who also is a co-founder of Sayari Labs, a financial intelligence and commercial data provider, said that Hudson Institute will produce a paper on creating a broad sanctions program for China, complete with the kind of language that would allow it to be executive-order ready.

"These things will be ready for the Trump administration or whoever comes next on Day One," said David Asher, a senior fellow at Hudson. He spoke at an event titled "The Perils of Corporate Engagement With China."

Asher said that where there are export controls on China, "they’re not being enforced."

Gabe Noronha, a former senior advisor on Iran at the State Department, now executive director of Polaris National Security, said during the event that corporate America has been co-opted to serve the needs of the Chinese Communist Party. An example he gave of that argument is that firms lobbied against the passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. "They are going out of their way to preserve business as usual," he said.

Noronha said that because U.S. consumers don't care about the human rights or geopolitical implications of buying Chinese goods, lawmakers will need to lead the charge.

He said they should tell corporate executives: "You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve U.S. national security and advance and adhere to all the CCP regulations."

Noronha argued that if the U.S. keeps the pressure on regarding commercial aviation and semiconductors, China will not be able to match the U.S. in those technologies.

Thomas Duesterberg, a senior fellow at Hudson, said he believes there is not sufficient restriction on exports in those arenas, artificial intelligence or quantum computing.

"We continue to sell engines and avionics to the Chinese, so they’re building up not only commercial competitors to Boeing and Airbus," but also advancing their military air power capabilities.