This resource tracked statements, developments, visits, and other interactions in US-Indo-Pacific relations under the President Trump administration. Special focus was given to the comments and activities of President Donald J. Trump; Vice President Mike Pence; United States Trade Representative Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Jr.; former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; former Secretary of Defense James Mattis; and former Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark Esper.
The Trump Administration & US - Indo-Pacific Relations
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Remarks by Secretary Ross at the 2020 Meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Virtual Meeting - China
"My thanks to the Advisory Councils and all of our federal agencies for your hard work and contributions to ending modern slavery. My Department stands together with you in full support of this important effort. And we are deploying our authorities and resources to rid our supply chains around the globe of these anathemas.
Notably, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry Security (BIS) has imposed export controls on entities demonstrating consistent abuses to human rights or whose surveillance technologies are enabling such activities. Since October…
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Secretary Ross' Statement on Delayed Prohibitions Related to TikTok
"In light of recent positive developments, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, at the direction of President Trump, will delay the prohibition of identified transactions pursuant to Executive Order 13942, related to the TikTok mobile application that would have been effective on Sunday, September 20, 2020, until September 27, 2020 at 11:59 p.m."
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Commerce Department Prohibits WeChat and TikTok Transactions to Protect the National Security of the United States
"In response to President Trump’s Executive Orders signed August 6, 2020, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) today announced prohibitions on transactions relating to mobile applications (apps) WeChat and TikTok to safeguard the national security of the United States. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has demonstrated the means and motives to use these apps to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the U.S. Today’s announced prohibitions, when combined, protect users in the U.S. by eliminating access to these applications and significantly reducing…
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Remarks by Secretary Ross at the Department of Commerce's Investment Advisory Council [IAC] - China
"China in particular has become a bully in its neighborhood. It is destroying the freedoms of millions of people living in Hong Kong; engages in large-scale ethnic cleansing; is arresting journalists; spies on its students overseas; and continues to scrub the Internet, and not allow our best technology companies to operate there. It is attempting to steal our most import vaccine research.
And, worst of all, China concealed the true nature of a deadly novel virus, allowing tens of thousands of people to fly out…
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Op-Ed by Commerce Secretary Ross on U.S. Trade Policy - South Korea and China
"The United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement, known as KORUS, has also been revitalized. KORUS will reduce the trade deficit and strengthen our economic and national security relationship.
The U.S.-China Phase One Trade Agreement will boost our exports, decrease our trade deficit, and will be strictly enforced for the benefit of American workers, farmers, and businesses.
To further protect U.S. national security and defend American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade, the Trump Administration has greatly enhanced trade enforcement efforts. We have initiated twice as…
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Commerce Department Adds 24 Chinese Companies to the Entity List for Helping Build Military Islands in the South China Sea
"The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in the Department of Commerce (Commerce) added 24 Chinese companies to the Entity List for their role in helping the Chinese military construct and militarize the internationally condemned artificial islands in the South China Sea. Despite protests from the United States and other countries, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been rapidly building the artificial islands since 2013, enabling the Communist Chinese Party’s (CCP) militarization of disputed outposts in the South China Sea to…
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Commerce Department Further Restricts Huawei Access to U.S. Technology and Adds Another 38 Affiliates to the Entity List
"The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in the Department of Commerce (Commerce) today further restricted access by Huawei Technologies (Huawei) and its non-U.S. affiliates on the Entity List to items produced domestically and abroad from U.S. technology and software. In addition, BIS added another 38 Huawei affiliates to the Entity List, which imposes a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and modified four existing Huawei Entity List entries. BIS also imposed license requirements on any transaction involving items…
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Commerce Department Adds Eleven Chinese Entities Implicated in Human Rights Abuses in Xinjiang to the Entity List
"The Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added to the Entity List 11 Chinese companies implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor, involuntary collection of biometric data, and genetic analyses targeted at Muslim minority groups from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Today’s action will result in these companies facing new restrictions on access to U.S.-origin items, including commodities and technology. This action will…