Secretary Bliken in China, meets President Xi Jinping.

0:00 Speaker 1 What is today is Senator Bill Haggerty from the great State of Tennessee. He stopped by our New York studios today and Senator, welcome to New York.

0:10 Speaker 2 Thank you, John. It’s great to be here with you today, Senator.

0:13 Speaker 1 When you get up at three o’clock in the morning and worry about our country, what do you worry about the most?

0:20 Speaker 2 I think I’m most deeply concerned about the challenge that we face from China right now. It’s a situation I’ve been watching for years. As you know, I served as the United States Ambassador to Japan from twenty seventeen through the Trump administration, and I had a front row seat for China’s aggression, their predatory behavior. But even before that,

0:39 John is a business person. I’d seen it, I’d experienced it. I’ve had my intellectual property stolen by Chinese companies. The Chinese Communist Party could not be more aggressive, more predatory. They take our intellectual property, they force technology transfer, they use industrial espionage. They’ve been at war with the United States from an economic standpoint for decades. From a military standpoint,

0:59 they’re increasing their military pressure at presents. The pressure that they’re putting on the South China Sea is enormous. They built these artificial islands. You may recall Shijipink coming to the White House back in twenty fifteen telling Obama that he had absolutely no intention to militarize those islands, and then he turns right around in twenty sixteen totally militarizing

1:18 the islands. When I got to Japan in twenty seventeen, again, the United States has more military stations in Japan than anyplace else in the world. It’s a tough neighborhood out there, but we pushed back, and we pushed back hard. North Korea.

1:30 China saw that. We saw a tremendous change, a tremendous shift in the way that we dealt with the Chinese, the way that we dealt with North Koreans, And what they begin to understand John is that we were speaking from a position of strength again, no more leading from behind, and relations changed dramatically. Our Phase one trade deal that

1:49 we did with China, a dramatic shift in the currents there. But what we’ve seen with the Biden administration stepping into office is back pedaling on every front, and China has become inbolden in the process.

1:59 Speaker 1 Now Center you. You were very close to the whole situation. You were in Japan, you saw what China was doing. We are being attacked in so many fronts with China, not attacked by Chinese people. The Communist Party probably has one hundred million loyal to the Communist Party. Our borders are under attack, the fetanog coming through our borders are

2:24 under attack. The universities are being paid a lot of money through the Chinese to take their students. So far, it’s been the economic war with Japan. With China, it’s been the economic war. It’s been a you.

2:47 Speaker 2 Tell me, I mean it’s I think it’s gotten worse though, under the Biden administration. Who would have dreamed that China would have violated our sovereignty in the way that they did with the spiblain that floated over our country for what eight days, John, They came over my home state of Tennessee, hovering over important strategic military installations oak Bridge

3:04 National Lab in Tennessee. They cut a deal with Cuba to put a spy station there. If you look at what’s happening in Latin America, right right in our backyard here, China has become the number one trading partner for most every country in Latin America. Their Belt and Road initiative is on full display down there. And when I was

3:22 just down in Latin America, the countries there. I met with the presidents of Chile, I met with the president of Uruguay, I met with the president of Columbia. They all want to do business with America. But our talking points that this administration have to do with climate change and humanitarian issues. Whereas these countries are trying to put

3:38 food on the table, They’re trying to navigate their way out of the pandemic, their economies in the tank, they got high crime. They want to be talking economics and infrastructure. China’s they’re talking that, and we’re talking something way beyond us.

3:48 Speaker 1 Saudi Arabia, for some reason, hates the White House. They don’t trust the White House. They have aligned themselves with China, and right now Russia is an enemy, the White House says, but we’re buying their oil. Russia is selling oil at a thirty percent discount to Pakistan. Pakistan is selling it to US at retail and they’re making thirty percent in between.

4:14 I mean, it’s a joke, but you can’t make it up.

4:16 Speaker 2 Well, I think Russia and China and Pakistan in that case, are all playing us for a sucker. And this administration, the Biden administration, is basically put itself in a position of weakness and put our nation into position of weakness as a consequence of it. And what you just described as yet another example. And I would have never dreamed

4:32 that we would see a situation where China would be brokering a deal between the Saudis and the Iranians. That’s what we’ve see. Now, that’s an unnatural that’s an unnatural alliance. But China is stepping into a void that we are creating.

4:43 And we need to be dealing with Israel, our greatest ally in the region. We need to be dealing with Saudi a strategic ally. Instead, this administration would rather attack the Saudis, They would rather poison the relationship there, and they want to do a deal with a Ran, which is just shocking.

4:59 Speaker 1 We got a minute left, Senator, What else do you want to tell the American people banking situation. If they keep raising the interest rates, it’s gonna break everybody. I was a CEO of a bank in nineteen ninety. If you gave me gold bars to lend you money on I couldn’t lend you money on it. And we’re gonna

5:18 get back to that situation.

5:20 Speaker 2 It’s very, very difficult. What’s happened is you’ve got a federal reserve that’s trying to walk a tightrope. Right now. The Biden administration has created unprecedented inflation. You think about what they did waging war on US energy. They drove energy prices up from the day they came into office.

5:34 A forty percent increase in the price of energy is going to be inherently inflationary across the economy.

5:37 Speaker 1 That’s what destroyed the Holy economy. Indeed, when the price of oil doubled, that’s caused the inflation. But instead of bringing down the price of oil, now it’s down to sixty eight. I’ve worked very closely with Senator Sullivan in Alaska.

5:54 It’s down to sixty eight and inflation is coming down. But it seems like chair and Powell doesn’t know that. And if he doesn’t lower interest rates, our economy is going to going to tech.

6:07 Speaker 2 Well, I’m going to be seeing Chairman Pow this week. He’ll be in front of me on Thursday, and as I said, he’s walking in tightrope right now. They decided to pause at this last meeting, but they gave a signal that they will probably raise rates again, perhaps twice.

6:18 That’s what the market is pricing in right now. And I think it’s very dangerous.

6:20 Speaker 1 That is stupid, because if they raise rates, the banks are gonna they’re going to stop lending completely.

6:28 Speaker 2 John, there’s a tremendous amount of stress in the banking system. We saw what happen with Silicon Valley Banks, Signature Bank right here in New York. If you think about the fact is the fact that they’ve raised rates so dramatically.

6:38 This is the steepest shield curve increase that we’ve seen in four decades. And it’s put a bunch of stress in the banking system. And it’s exactly what you’re saying. Banks are cutting back on their lending right now. Yes, and reduction of bank lending is going to have a negative hampening effect on the economic.

6:52 Speaker 1 Well, Senator Bill Haggerty, I want to thank you for stopping by w ABC, and thank you so much, and God bless you, and God bless America. And we’ll catch up again real soon, Amen, John, Thank you, Amen, all the best