Barr: US is too reliant on goods from China

WASHINGTON — The United States has become overly reliant on Chinese goods and services, including face masks, medical gowns and other protective equipment designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Attorney General William Barr said Thursday.

He also accused hackers linked to the Chinese government of targeting American universities and businesses to steal research related to vaccine development, leveling the allegation against Beijing hours after Western agencies made similar claims against Russia.

Barr’s address at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is part of a full-court press by the Trump administration to denounce China. President Donald Trump is trying to fend off criticism of his handling of the coronavirus and the U.S. economic downturn and to shift the blame back onto Beijing, and assert that he is tougher on China than Democratic rival Joe Biden.

“The People’s Republic of China is now engaged in an economic blitzkrieg — an aggressive, orchestrated, whole-of-government (indeed, whole-of-society) campaign to seize the commanding heights of the global economy and to surpass the United States as the world’s preeminent superpower,” Barr said.

Barr’s speech amounted to a wideranging condemnation of what he said were Beijing’s tactics to gain an economic upper hand in the 21st century and to pressure American corporate leaders to promote policies favorable to the Communist government. He warned that American business leaders could run afoul of federal foreign lobbying laws if they do not disclose relationships with Beijing, and that universities that welcome Chinese-funded initiatives could unwittingly lose control of academic research.