PHILADELPHIA — Dave McCormick outlined six aggressive measures Thursday that he thinks the United States should take against China to curb what he described as a danger to American security and economic independence as he tries to out-hawk Sen. Bob Casey in his bid for the U.S. Senate.
“Today we face a shadow growing on the Pacific horizon and we cannot be caught by surprise again as we were in 1941,” McCormick said in a speech in Philadelphia on the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
His talk marked the biggest showing yet of a new tactic for the Republican candidate, whose 2022 Senate run was gravely hurt by his own party questioning his ability to be strong on China, where his company made huge investments while he was CEO of Bridgewater Associates.
In a 20-minute speech on the top floor of the Independence Visitor’s Center overlooking Independence Hall, McCormick laid out a six-step plan to overhaul U.S.-China relations, including banning the nation from the World Health Organization and advocating for its exclusion from the World Trade Organization. He also challenged Casey, who he argued has been ineffective on Chinese influence, to back the plan.
McCormick was introduced by former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who served under former President Donald Trump and has since condemned Trump’s leadership on foreign policy. Esper, who grew up outside of Pittsburgh, called McCormick a friend. “I’m a clear-eyed, unabashed, unapologetic China Hawk,” Esper said. “And so is Dave McCormick.”
Outside, a small group of retired union carpenters called McCormick a hypocrite whose investments in China cost Pennsylvania manufacturing jobs. A digital billboard paid for by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party circled the venue, displaying a quote from 2007 when McCormick said, “When China succeeds, the United States succeeds.”
McCormick called China an adversary and said talking with the nation in good faith was like “sitting down with an arsonist.”
He outlined six things he wants to do — with varying detail on how he’d get them done. Some items on his list are largely outside of the purview of a U.S. senator.
—McCormick said he wants to stop the flow of Chinese fentanyl ingredients and drug money into the United States. It was unclear how he would accomplish such a huge task, but he said if China refused to cooperate, the United States should use “sanctions, intelligence resources, military interdictions at sea, and all other tools at our disposal to make it as difficult as possible for drug cartels to produce fentanyl with ingredients originating in China.”
—He said the U.S. should advocate for China’s removal from the WTO and strip the country of its “permanent normal trade relations” status with the United States. China became a member of the World Trade Organization in 2001 and has been a contentious member of the organization. Neither the U.S. Senate nor a president has the direct ability to remove a country from the WTO. As for the trade designation, that’s awarded from one nation to another and broadly guarantees trade advantages like low tariffs.
—McCormick called for a pause on the use of lithium batteries and solar panels. He criticized President Joe Biden’s green agenda for further fueling dependence on China, given its outsized production of lithium and materials used in solar panels.
—McCormick said he supports ending any U.S. investment or trade that benefits the Chinese Communist Party’s national security. Casey has proposed a similar idea in the Outbound Investment Transparency Act. That legislation, which Republicans stripped from a recent National Defense Authorization Act, calls for transparency in investments, not a ban — though Casey has said he would support one.
—McCormick also said the U.S. should ban strategic purchases of land by the Communist Party.
—He argued China should be removed from the World Health Organization. The WHO is a specialized agency of the United Nations and removal of a country would come from the U.N. The Trump administration ended financial support for WHO and started a process to withdraw, but Biden reversed that move after taking office.
About a half dozen retired members of the carpenter’s union showed up to protest McCormick’s appearance. The group took issue with what they called the hypocrisy of McCormick overseeing widespread investment in China and then giving a speech on how to cut down on that very thing.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party organized the protest in conjunction with the union members, arguing McCormick “outsourced American jobs” and sold American workers out to China.
There’s no disputing the 108,000% increase in Chinese investments Bridgewater took on while McCormick was CEO. McCormick has tried to argue his experience in a company that did business with China, as well as undersecretary of defense under President George W. Bush, equips him well to take on the issue.
Democrats also argued that as CEO of FreeMarkets, an internet commerce specialist, McCormick outsourced jobs to India and opened a new office in China. In 2003 the company laid off 50 workers in Pittsburgh shortly before adding 100 new positions in New Delhi. A representative with the company has said the jobs cut 19 years ago were not the same as those added in India and represented a shift in focus for the company.
FreeMarkets did open an Asia-Pacific headquarters in China while McCormick was CEO. It relocated from Singapore.
McCormick’s campaign has consistently touted him as a “job creator” in Pittsburgh, given the business was a start-up.
In his speech on Thursday, McCormick predicted Casey would respond: “’McCormick himself did business in China. Bridgewater did business in China.’ And it did. These attacks are predictable, but the real question is who has the will and the strength to act?”
While McCormick’s main hit against Casey on the issue is that he hasn’t done enough, Casey has a legislative record that includes several bills related to curbing China’s influence.
His list of bipartisan accomplishments on standing up to China include:
—Casey coauthored legislation that passed in July requiring investors to notify the Treasury Department when they invest in Chinese companies in sectors like artificial intelligence and quantum computing that could impact security.
—He worked on several provisions that passed in the National Defense Authorization Act in 2021, including protections for American companies from Chinese industrial espionage, publicly identifying Chinese military companies working in the U.S., increased funding for the U.S. military to counter Chinese threats in the Pacific — and a separate measure requiring the Department of Defense to counter Chinese efforts to steal intellectual property from academic institutions.
—He also cosponsored an act that required the U.S. Postal Service to use advanced data tracking to curb smuggling of fentanyl from China and backed Trump’s decision to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on China.
—In 2014 he cosponsored the “Bring Jobs Home” Act, which aimed to stop tax breaks to companies moving jobs overseas and extend tax credits to companies that moved jobs from China to the U.S. The bill did not pass.
In a hotly contested race, China may actually be one of the few policy issues the two men agree on — though they are sure to continue debating who is better equipped to lead on the issue.
McCormick said Casey has “dithered away” his time in the Senate as China has “moved aggressively.”
Casey has previously criticized McCormick as out of touch with regular voters. “I think they’re gonna want to look for someone who’s been fighting these battles and not someone who’s made a lot of money by investing in China,” he said last week.
The McCormick speech previewed more policy addresses to come as part of a series the Republican has dubbed his “Keystone Agenda to Reclaim America.”
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