On Tuesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Rep. James Comer (R-KY) said that he’s doubtful China will stop buying Iran’s oil and thinks “they’re going to continue to skirt the embargo rules that we placed on Iran.”
Host Blake Burman asked, “Should he be direct and have a long and frank conversation with Xi Jinping about Iran, or is it that he’s doing [so] well that we say…it’s not needed?”
Comer answered, “No, I think the president will have that conversation with President Xi. Look, this is something that he’s probably not going to broadcast, because more than likely, China is going to continue to buy oil from Iran, they’re going to continue to skirt the embargo rules that we placed on Iran.”
Burman then cut in to ask, “How do we stop that?”
Comer answered, “China needs oil, and I think playing hardball, look, we’ve put tariffs on China, and it’s hurt Americans. There’s pain being realized by both sides, China and the United States. Hopefully, hopefully, we can start to resolve some of these trade war conflicts that we have with China, because I think China can produce some goods that we could never produce anywhere near as cheap as China, and that’s good for American consumers who go to the Dollar General store and go to Walmart, like I do. But, also, I don’t think we should depend on China for anything important to our national security. We should produce all of our pharmaceuticals in the United States. We should produce all of our food in the United States. But we need China to buy some soybeans and tobacco and other products that are grown in my home state of Kentucky. So, there are a lot of things on the table. This is a very important meeting. China has the message. They know President Trump’s record. He’ll double the tariffs on China if this meeting doesn’t go according to plan, in their eyes. So, I would like to see China stop buying oil from Iran. But that’s probably not a realistic goal to be achieved by President Trump.”
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