Lawmaker Calls for Curbing US Ties to Chinese Aviation to Gain Leverage
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., urged the Trump administration Sept. 18 to work with U.S. allies to take several steps, including restricting or prohibiting outbound investment in China’s aviation sector, to pressure Beijing to stop limiting exports of critical minerals.
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Other steps he recommended in a letter to President Donald Trump include reviewing export control policies for licensing the sale of commercial aircraft, aircraft parts and maintenance services to China, and restricting or suspending Chinese airlines’ access to U.S. and allied airports.
“Individually, these steps would be meaningful,” Moolenaar wrote. “Taken together across allied blocs, they would send a powerful message to China that it cannot choke off critical supplies to our defense industries without jeopardizing its own strategic sectors.”
Despite publicly committing to easing restrictions on critical minerals, China continues to delay and deny export licenses for the U.S. and its allies, Moolenaar said. “This deliberate squeeze mirrors other coercive actions by Beijing in the past and is part of the Chinese Communist Party’s playbook,” he wrote.
Asked to comment on the letter, White House spokesperson Kush Desai issued a statement saying, "President Trump’s Section 232 investigation into [imports of] critical minerals and several executive orders streamlining regulations governing critical mineral and rare earth production reflect how no administration has taken more decisive action to safeguard America’s national and economic security than the Trump administration.”