Fact-check: Congressman mostly correct about growth of US trade deficit with China

Our weekly check-in with the Texas Truth-O-Meter.

By Tom Kertscher, PolitiFactJanuary 4, 2023 3:57 pm, ,

From PolitiFact:

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt asked California Rep. Ro Khanna whether he would consider serving as the top Democrat on the new GOP-led House Select Committee on China.

When the committee formed, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said it would “ensure America is prepared to tackle the economic and security challenges posed by the” Chinese Communist Party.

Khanna said he would be open to taking the position, adding that his concerns transcend national security.

“Our trade deficit with China has gone from about $80 billion a year in the 1990s to $400 billion a year,” he said Dec. 12. “We’ve lost steel production, we’ve lost aluminum production, we’ve lost paper production, we’ve lost industry after industry to China. It has hollowed the middle class and working-class in this country, and it has left us less self-reliant.”

Khanna’s claim on the figures is essentially on the money, although some experts disagree with what he says the numbers imply. …

Read the full story at PolitiFact, and listen to an interview with PolitiFact Texas’ Nusaiba Mizan in the audio player above.

Radio interview produced by Sean Saldana

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