In The News

Rep. Johnson discusses the importance of protecting U.S. ports, shippers, and manufacturers from the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) growing influence on our supply chain.

Johnson in the Washington Times: China’s iron grip on American supply chains

The United States relies on global trade and strong supply chains to meet domestic demand and boost American production, but one nation China has manipulated America’s economy to its advantage, undermining American businesses, consumers, and national security. China exploits loopholes in our trade laws and has attempted to gain a chokehold on American ports and foreign ones like the Panama Canal. Their actions are not an accident, but a deliberate attempt to grow their influence and dominance. The Chinese Communist Party is not our friend.

China is notorious for its unfair trade practices. Its companies abuse U.S. trade laws, like the de minimis exemption, to ship goods to America at low prices and avoid paying duties and taxes. Chinese companies like Shein and Temu have flooded U.S. Customs and Border Protection with these packages. In fact, more than one billion de minimis shipments enter the U.S. in a one-year period. These practices harm other American and global retailers who play by the rules.

While President Donald Trump has taken action to close the de minimis loophole, abuse of U.S. and global shipping laws doesn’t stop there. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports experienced severe disruptions because foreign-flagged ocean carriers prioritized Chinese electronics over American food exports. These unfair shipping practices caused American agricultural exporters to lose 21 percent of confirmed foreign sales, which translates to billions of dollars. Hailing from South Dakota, which has a strong agriculture export economy, I set out to address the problem by giving the Federal Maritime Commission the authority and tools it needed to crack down on China and level the playing field for American producers. Once my bill, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, was signed into law, shipping container prices dropped dramatically, port congestion eased, and American products regained their competitive access to global markets.

The Ocean Shipping Reform Act opened my eyes to the serious threat China poses to our supply chain. Since then, I’ve made protecting U.S. ports, shippers, and manufacturers from the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence a top priority. I secured a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act to prohibit the use of the CCP state-controlled shipping logistics platform, LOGINK, at U.S. ports. If LOGINK gained access to U.S. carriers and ports, the CCP would be at an extreme competitive advantage through their access to sensitive and proprietary business information, giving them the opportunity to underbid foreign competitors and further increase dependency on Chinese markets.

One of the most worrying facets of China’s infiltration is its technology. Picture this: a CCP official accessing highly detailed, millimeter-level accuracy of U.S. infrastructure. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology is a remote sensing technology that captures detailed three-dimensional maps of environments with incredible accuracy. This technology is widely used in agriculture, autonomous cars, and critical transportation. China has become a frontrunner on developing LiDAR technology, which is used in industries across the U.S. By law, if the CCP requests a company to hand over its collected data on U.S. infrastructure, the company is required to comply. Allowing our greatest adversary to have precise details on our roads, railways, airports, and ocean shipping ports is a significant national security threat.

I’m leading the Securing Infrastructure from Adversaries Act to prohibit Chinese LiDAR technology from being used by the Department of Transportation to protect our infrastructure and supply chains from the CCP threat. I’ve also sounded the alarm on the use of this technology in Chinese drones that are used in American agriculture. These drones can collect and interpret crop data that is impossible for the human eye to see. The CCP’s access to this data and software gives them an unprecedented ability to control our agriculture supply chain. This is a risk we cannot afford to take.

Regardless of the industry, China’s goal is the same: exploit America’s supply chains for its own economic gain. China’s actions deliberately undermine America’s industries, safety, and sovereignty. Congress and President Trump must work together to enforce tough-on-China policies and ramp up domestic production to increase resiliency in our supply chains and keep Americans safe and secure.

Rep. Dusty Johnson has represented South Dakota’s at-large congressional district since 2019. He serves on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Select Committee on China.