Rubio Slams China, Says Divestment from Nation is 'Common Sense'

Senator Marco Rubio/ The Shark Tank

During the pandemic, many Americans were worried about the nation’s dependence upon foreign countries (such as China and India) for our pharmaceuticals. Whether or not the disputed claim that 80% of America’s pharmaceuticals come from China and India is true, what cannot be disputed is the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) numbers which show that China and India control 31% of all drug manufacturing facilities in the world, as of August of 2019.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is saying that this is just part of the reason why dependence on China is bad for American business.

In an opo-ed Sen. Rubio wrote in the New York Post, he says that not only is dependence on China not good for business, but it’s not safe for Americans either.

“Even if Xi never locks down another city again, China would still be a dangerous place for Americans to do business. Just ask billionaire Jack Ma, tennis player Peng Shuai or newspaper owner Jimmy Lai how stable their country is. And that doesn’t even take into account the political and financial risk of using supply chains corrupted by slave labor,” writes Rubio.

Rubio also includes the notion that Americans can no longer turn a blind-eye to the inhumane practices that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are employing. Even stating that companies have had to scramble to “ensure they didn’t benefit from slave labor” and companies that ignored recent laws and trends run the risk of ending up on a government blacklist.

Finally, Rubio states that divesting from China and the CCP is now “common sense.”

“Taken together, these factors — the potential for further supply-chain disruptions, the instability of Xi’s rule and lawmakers’ growing hostility toward CCP-tied companies — make it bad business to rely on China. Divesting from Beijing may have been close to unthinkable before the pandemic, but today it’s common sense,” writes Rubio.

Will companies like Apple make the switch and leave China for good?