McCormick: ‘I’m the Guy Who Actually Understands How to Go Toe-to-Toe with China’

Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick on Monday touted his experience working with China and said he would not only be “strong” in dealing with the Asian superpower but also “unique.”

Fox Business Network “Mornings with Maria” host Maria Bartiromo asked McCormick about former President Donald Trump attacking him for having worked with the Chinese Communist Party in his time at Bridgewater.

McCormick said he had experience negotiating “at the highest levels of government against the Chinese” and added he was “the guy who actually understands how to go toe-to-toe with China.”

“[W]e should reduce our dependency on China and semiconductors and pharmaceuticals and other things. We need to continue the policies that President Trump … put in place … of fair trade. That’s why Bob Lighthizer, who spearheaded President Trump’s China policy, has endorsed me,” McCormick explained.

“And listen, I’m a guy with nine years of experience, almost a decade fighting the communist ideology,” he continued. “I negotiated at the highest levels of government against the Chinese, someone who is viewed as a very strong hawk 15, 16 years ago, and someone who’s done business around the world in China and other countries just like President Trump did. Maybe something like 2% of Bridgewater’s business was in China, but President Trump knows that, and that’s why he had asked me to serve in a number of senior positions in the national security arena in his administration and why I served on his Defense Policy Board.”

McCormick argued that his primary opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, had “absolutely no credibility” in dealing with China.

“And this is nary where Mehmet Oz has absolutely no credibility,” he stated. “He’s got business ties. He’s got money from coming in from China all over the place. His baby care products, which are manufactured in China and sold in China and the United States. Drozsleep.com, manufacturing in China — a deal with the Chinese propaganda machine to syndicate his show. So I’m the guy who actually understands how to go toe-to-toe with China, and no one in the Senate has the military experience and the economic experience to lead that charge. And so, I not only think I’ll be strong on China — I’ll be unique on China in the experience that I can bring.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent