SEN. RAND PAUL: Congress Shouldn’t Tax Americans To Fight Putin

CEI’s Ryan Young was quoted by Senator Rand Paul about

Ryan Young, a Senior Economist with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, points out that Russia is the junior partner in the alliance with China. Young reminds us that China agreed to a second natural-gas pipeline between the two countries on the condition that Russia sell China gas at a lower-than-market rate. China is not going to give up that discount because of this bill.

But imposing tariffs on China will reignite the trade war. Beijing will certainly retaliate with its own tariffs and export controls. Maia Nikoladze, the Deputy Director of the Economic Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council, reminded us that the Liberation Day tariffs placed on China in April 2025 didn’t change Beijing’s behavior. Instead, those tariffs prompted China to restrict exports of critical rare earth elements, which are necessary for defense and advanced technologies, and subsequently caused mass disruption in U.S. and European supply chains.

Likewise, imposing a 100 percent tariff on India, at a time when we are actively trying to court them to help us in our competition with China, is completely self-defeating. Ryan Young with the Competitive Enterprise Institute worries that imposing tariffs on India will alienate one of our most important strategic partners in Asia and potential counterweight to China. Instead, these tariffs may very well push India toward aligning with other economic blocs, including potentially a closer relationship with China and Russia.

Read the full article at the Daily Caller.