Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday announced that he would move to revoke China's favored trade status if elected president in 2024.
China has enjoyed permanent normal trade relations with the U.S. since 2000, Reuters noted. The Senate approved such status in anticipation of Beijing joining the World Trade Organization.
"I favor doing that. I think we probably need Congress but I would take executive action as appropriate to be able to move us in that direction," he said in a Fox News interview. He further labeled Beijing "the No. 1 geopolitical threat this country faces."
Diplomatic relations been the U.S. and Washington have been tense in recent years, in part due to trade feuds as well as geopolitical tensions over Beijing's pretensions to govern Taiwan.
More recently, the transcontinental flight of a suspected Chinese spy balloon earlier this year forced the delay of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's planned trip to the country.
DeSantis, for his part, has previously made moves within the Sunshine State to limit the influence of Chinese entities in Florida. In May of this year, the governor signed legislation banning the sale of land to Chinese citizens, albeit with some exceptions.
"Florida is taking action to stand against the United States’ greatest geopolitical threat — the Chinese Communist Party," the governor said at the time. "I'm proud to sign this legislation to stop the purchase of our farmland and land near our military bases and critical infrastructure by Chinese agents, to stop sensitive digital data from being stored in China, and to stop CCP influence in our education system from grade school to grad school. We are following through on our commitment to crack down on Communist China."
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