Bipartisan US Lawmakers Propose New Bill To Counter CCP’s Economic Coercion

According to Taiwan media on February 24th, bipartisan US lawmakers recently proposed The Countering Economic Coercion Act of 2023 to provide rapid economic support to countries facing economic coercion from Communist China and hold it accountable for its actions.

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs stated today that senior member of the Committee and Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks, along with Republican Representative and the Chairman of the House Rules Committee Tom Cole, and senior member of the House Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs on Indo-Pacific Democratic Representative Ami Bera, released a joint statement announcing their co-sponsorship of the bill.

Some lawmakers stated that Communist China has repeatedly used economic coercion and other means to shape policies towards the US and its allies or to retaliate against sovereign states that oppose it. They also believe that Communist China’s actions not only harm the sovereignty and economic interests of US allies, but also directly harm US interests globally, and undermine the rules-based system that has been the cornerstone of economic prosperity since World War II.

According to the statement of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the bill will provide the president with new authorities, such as seeking congressional appropriations to support foreign aid, expediting export licensing decisions and regulatory processes to facilitate trade with affected foreign partners, and decreasing tariffs on non-import-sensitive goods imported by the U.S. from foreign partners.