Communist China is the biggest challenge America faces on the world stage.

It's a challenge that we ignored for far too long.

For decades, United States leaders in both parties encouraged deep ties with China.

The idea was that China would move away from communism and embrace freedom and democracy.

This idea was wrong.

The Chinese Communist Party is now more oppressive at home and aggressive abroad than ever before.

It uses every tool at its disposal to strengthen itself while weakening America.

Let's start with trade.

Trade is a fundamental and fundamentally beneficial part of our economy.

But not all trade with all trading partners is the same.

The father of capitalism, Adam Smith, observed in the wealth of nations

that Great Britain's command of the seas must trump trade benefits.

Defense, he wrote, is of much more importance than opulence.

America has long understood this truth.

During the Cold War, we limited trade with the Soviet Union.

We didn't want the Communist country to use our innovation and economy against us and our allies.

Now it's time to take a similar approach with China.

For anyone who might have doubted the need for this,

the coronavirus pandemic has provided a very loud wake-up call.

As Americans rushed to purchase medical equipment, masks and gloves,

it became obvious we had outsourced a lot of what we needed to China.

We had become dependent on them for not only PPE,

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