Senator targets economic office

Governor: Plan to shut state’s China presence short-sighted

State Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, said Monday he plans in the upcoming fiscal session to propose an amendment to the state Department of Commerce appropriation that would shut down the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s office in China in the coming fiscal year.

But Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Garner’s proposal is short-sighted and that he already planned to trim the office’s budget.

Garner’s proposed amendment to the state Department of Commerce’s appropriation in fiscal year 2021 that starts July 1 states that the department “shall not allocate, budget or expend any funds including, but not limited to, any contractual services with any private and/or public companies, corporations, individuals or organizations, for the operation of an office, liaison or representative for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission in China.”

The Arkansas Economic Development Commission has operated an office in China since 2008, said Alisha Curtis, chief communications and legislative director for the state Department of Commerce under which the Arkansas Economic Development Commission operates.

Garner posted his proposal on Twitter on Monday and wrote that “it’s time to hold China accountable for the #WuhanVirus and to move away from our dependency on them for goods like PPE [personal protective equipment] mask.”

He said he plans to run the amendment with state Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro.

SENATOR’S REASONS

Garner said Monday in an interview he wants to shut down the state’s office in China because Arkansas and many other states’ dependence on China for personal protective equipment and other medicines “puts us at an economic and strategic disadvantage.”

“This is a small, but important step to say we are changing our business relationship as a state with the Chinese communist government,” Garner said.

He said he favors creating a grant program at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to encourage Arkansas companies to make personal protective equipment.

Garner said his proposal to end taxpayers’ subsidies for Arkansas’ office in China has strong support from state lawmakers, who he has consulted. He emphasized his proposal wouldn’t stop trade with China or trade negotiations with that country.

Asked about Garner’s proposal, state Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, said that “it is hard for me to make it make sense.”

“We’ve had good success there,” said Teague, who is a co-chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee.

At his daily covid-19 news conference, Hutchinson voiced his objections to Garner’s proposal to end the state’s office in China.

“Whenever you look at the second-leading economic power in the world and you think that we have a presence of Tyson Foods, the sale of agricultural products to China, whenever Walmart is there in China, to think that we are not going to have a business relationship in the future is short-sighted and it is somewhat isolationist,” the Republican governor said.

“I am a realistic, and … we have current challenges [and] we have reduced our staff allocation there and so that’s going to reduce and can be in effect this June 30,” Hutchinson said, “so that’s already in the works.

“But I’m concerned about the amendment itself that it sends a message that we don’t want to sell agricultural products to China, our rice, our soybeans, our poultry,” he said.

“And secondly, we have to continue, even though we might not have a physical office, we’ve got to haAve a presence there and be able to facilitate that relationship from a commerce standpoint in the future, so I have those hesitations and I’ve expressed those to Senator Garner,” Hutchinson said.

Curtis said the Arkansas Economic Development Commission “had already planned to scale back contracts with our Chinese office, leaving a liaison for the office that will focus on existing Chinese business in Arkansas,” she said in a written statement. “As a result, this would save $160,000 annually.”

That will reduce the office’s $285,000 budget to $125,000 a year, effective July 1, Curtis said.

Garner, who is a former aide to U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Dardanelle, said Hutchinson had “an extreme response” to a simple proposal.

He said that Arkansas’ agricultural trade with China wouldn’t be affected by his proposal to close the state’s office in China.

Garner said the state needs to send a strong message to China that its relationship is going to change in the future.

Last month, China-based Shandong Sun Paper notified state economic development officials that it dropped its plan to build a $1.8 billion paper plant in Clark County that was projected to add 350 employees and provide 3,000 additional jobs in supporting industries.

“The current situation related to the coronavirus outbreak and continued political friction and economic instability make it impossible for us to proceed with the project within the timelines set forth in the environmental permit,” the company said.