The News
JD Vance called China “the biggest threat” to the US in an interview shortly after Donald Trump picked him as his vice president, signaling hawkishness on China from a potential Trump administration.
Vance told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Trump would negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine “so America can focus on the real issue, which is China,” adding, “that’s the biggest threat to our country and we are completely distracted from it.”
When asked by reporters about Vance’s comments, a Chinese spokesperson said at a press conference that “we have always opposed the US hyping issues related to China during their elections.”
SIGNALS
Vance backs Trump’s push for tough tariffs on Chinese imports
Vance is largely in line with Trump’s proposal for tariffs across the board on goods coming from China. “We’re going to penalize you for using slave labor in China and importing that stuff in the United States,” he told CBS News. Vance has co-sponsored legislation that would have ended China’s favored trade status and imposed far higher tariffs on many Chinese products. Trump has floated the possibility of slapping tariffs of as much as 60% on all Chinese imports, a move that economists have said could upend global trade. A 60% tariff would cut 2.5% of China’s GDP in the following year, reducing its annual growth rate by more than 50%, researchers at UBS predicted.
Trump advisers push for increased military presence in Indo-Pacific
Vance will join a team of Trump advisers who have repeatedly called for the US to invest more military resources in the Indo-Pacific in an attempt to deter China. “The thing that we need to avoid more than anything is a Chinese invasion of Taiwan,” Vance said last year, emphasizing that Washington had no choice but to prioritize sending weapons to Taiwan over Ukraine. Robert O’Brien, a former Trump official widely tipped for a top job in a future Republican administration, has said the US Navy should move an aircraft carrier from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and consider redeploying the entire Marine Corps to the Pacific.
Europeans worry Vance’s selection signals Trump’s lack of commitment to Ukraine
Vance’s focus on China is likely to come at the expense of US commitments to Europe if he plays a significant role in a potential Trump administration’s foreign policy, European officials fear. One senior EU official told Politico the appointment was a “disaster” for Ukraine, while a former UK senior defense official told Sky News that a future Trump administration would “start the process of dismantling NATO.” Vance warned in a February op-ed that the US has “provided a blanket of security to Europe for far too long.” He wrote: “The question each European nation needs to ask itself is this: are you prepared to defend yourself? And the question the US must ask is: if our European allies can’t even defend themselves, are they allies, or clients?”