🤫 Biden's China divide

Plus: Javelin worries | Thursday, April 28, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By AHCA/NCAL   Axios Sneak Peek By the Axios Politics team · Apr 28, 2022 Welcome back to Sneak. A busy week draws to an end. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,105 words ... 4 minutes. Edited by Glen Johnson.     1 big thing: Biden's China divide President Biden speaks today at a small-business event. Photo: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images   Biden administration officials are debating how — and even whether — to lower some of former President Trump's tariffs against China to help ease inflation, people familiar with the matter tell Axios' Hans Nichols. Why it matters: The administration has limited options to lower prices for American consumers but knows it will be punished in this fall's midterms if higher prices persist throughout the year. Providing so-called "exclusions" for some goods — not subjecting them to the Section 301 tariffs imposed by Trump — is one tool the current president has at his disposal. But Biden, like his predecessor, has pursued a confrontational approach toward China, and officials have been reluctant to relax the tariffs without extracting something in return. In August 2019, Trump imposed $300 billion worth of tariffs against China, saying it had failed to follow through on promises to buy more American agricultural products and stem the sales of fentanyl. Between the lines: The debate is pitting economists at Treasury, including Secretary Janet Yellen, against China hawks on the National Security Council. They want to keep pressure on China. Spokespersons for both entities declined comment. Driving the news: Last Thursday, Daleep Singh, the deputy national security adviser overseeing sanctions, publicly enumerated a range of potential consumer products that could be excluded. "For product categories that are not implicated by those objectives, there's not much of a case for those tariffs being in place," he said at an event hosted by the Bretton Woods Committee. "Why do we have tariffs on bicycles or apparel or underwear?" His comments were followed by remarks from Yellen in a Bloomberg TV interview. She said lowering some tariffs was "worth considering" and that "it's something we're looking at." Those comments drew rebukes from some labor officials, who reached out to the White House to raise their concerns. Keep reading.     2. Lawmakers fret over dwindling Javelin supply A pallet of U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missiles is loaded onto a truck in Ukraine just before Russia's invasion. Photo: Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images   Some members of Congress are calling for the president to invoke the Defense Production Act amid concern the diversion of Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine could leave the U.S. itself militarily vulnerable, Axios' Alayna Treene reports. Why it matters: Biden is planning to visit a Lockheed Martin facility in Alabama that makes Javelins next Tuesday. Having a ready supply of such potent and proven weapons is seen as vital not only to Ukraine but to ensuring Taiwan is prepared for a potential Chinese invasion. Driving the news: Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) warned of a potential Javelin shortage during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing this week. "The United States military has probably sent about one-third of its Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine — one-third of our supply given to them," Blumenthal said. "Replenishing U.S. stocks or those weapons would require 32 months." Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a veteran and the committee chair, raised similar concerns: "We have a significant usage rate for the Stingers that we're moving over there ― Javelins, also ― and we have to not only be able to help the Ukrainians, we have to maintain our stocks." Reed also emphasized "the lack of responsive and rapidly scalable production capacity" for these types of weapons reveals a greater problem. He said that related to "manufacturing flexibility for long-lead items needed in short order, with little to no advance warning." It's not just Congress pushing the issue. Greg Hayes, chief executive of Raytheon — a key U.S. manufacturer of Javelins and Stingers — said during a Tuesday earnings call that increasing the production of these missiles "is going to take us a little bit of time," Defense News reported. Keep reading.     3. Charted: American view of China Data: PEW; Chart: Jacque Schrag/Axios Republicans — and independents who lean Republican — are more likely to call China an enemy than Democrats. They're also more likely to describe China's power and influence as a major threat to the U.S., according to new data from Pew Research reviewed by Axios' Sarah Mucha. Why it matters: The partisan split is another divide heading into the midterms. It's being expressed as Americans' view of China grows more and more negative overall. Both parties were planning as early as late June to lean into competition with China as a midterms issue. And both Democratic and Republican candidates are targeting China in ads themselves pitched toward voters whose jobs have been shipped overseas, especially in manufacturing-heavy states like Ohio. The same data shows the war in Ukraine makes Americans especially wary of China, which is seen as a partner to Russia — and has yet to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggression against his neighbor. The details: Republicans are more likely to say economic relationships between the U.S. and China are bad; they also believe the U.S. should get tougher on China over economic issues mores than worrying about building a strong relationship. The same data set from Pew indicates two-thirds of U.S. adults surveyed believe China's influence on the world stage has grown in recent years. More Americans also describe China as the world's leading economic power. Keep reading.     A message from AHCA/NCAL Do our nation's seniors deserve support? Yes     The answer may be obvious – but policymakers must step up to preserve seniors' access to care. Little has been done by Washington to invest in long-term care despite a growing elderly population and ongoing staffing shortages. It's time to stand up for seniors.     4. Worthy of your time House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confers with Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova around the opening of a photo exhibit at the Capitol documenting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images   ☀️ Rep. Kai Kahele (D-Hawaii) is planning to leave Congress after just one term to run for governor, according to Punchbowl News. Kahele drew headlines for voting entirely by proxy during the first few months of this year and for a deal he has with Hawaiian Airlines to work part time in his old job as a pilot, Axios' Andrew Solender reports in tonight's Sneak roundup. 📄 The Jan. 6 select committee is planning eight public hearings in June with a "combination of witnesses, exhibits" — the first of which is scheduled for June 9, said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the panel's chair. ❌ Ten House Republicans — including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) — voted against a bill geared toward streamlining the transfer of weapons to Ukraine amid Russia's invasion of the country. 🐘 A Colorado judge ruled that state Sen. Don Coram, a moderate Republican, can continue in his primary challenge against conservative Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), rejecting a lawsuit to disqualify him from the primary ballot, according to the Colorado Sun. 🐘 Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chair of the House Democrats' campaign arm, is being targeted by Republicans on his home turf. Maloney's campaign counterpart is making a trip to his district, and a House GOP-aligned super PAC is launching a $1.9 million ad campaign there, CNN reported. 💨 Deputy White House communications director Pili Tobar plans to leave her post amid a series of planned high-profile departures that include climate adviser Gina McCarthy and senior adviser Cedric Richmond, Sarah also reports.     5. Pic du jour Photo: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images   Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who launched an epic meme on Inauguration Day 2021, descends on a Capitol escalator.     A message from AHCA/NCAL Support frontline heroes now     The pandemic has taken a toll on our nation's caregivers, resulting in a staffing crisis and nursing home closures. It's up to policymakers to support those serving on the frontlines in long-term care and protect seniors' access to care. Learn more.   🥂 Thanks for reading this week! We'll be back Sunday evening. Please tell your family, friends and colleagues they can subscribe to Sneak or any of Axios' other free local and national newsletters through this link. Like this email style and format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. 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