Steve Madden Works to Avoid China Tariffs; China Signals Desire for a Deal With Trump

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Stefania Cox in for Tiffany Meyer. Our top story. Major American shoemaker Steve Madden is moving to cut productions in China two days after Trump won the election. More on what the president-elect's proposed tariffs could mean for your wallet here at home. An advisor for China's foreign ministry says Beijing wants to make a deal with Trump to avoid steep trade penalties. A look into how Beijing might view Trump's return. And a massive Chinese cyber attack putting a federal agency on alert. Staffers are now told to avoid using phones for work. One major American company is wasting no time getting out of China just two days after Trump won re-election. American shoe designer Steve Madden said Thursday it will be moving almost half of its production out of China over the next year. The company's leadership said the plan has been in the works for a long time. Trump has long said he wants to slap a 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods and bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Some say it could fuel inflation here at home because companies would pass on the rising costs to consumers. The retail industry in particular has echoed those concerns. Analysis from the National Retail Federation last week suggested that if Trump's tariffs are put in place, the average pair of sneakers could cost Americans an extra $14. While another think tank estimates middle-income families would pay over $2,600 more per year if Trump goes ahead with his tariff plans. On the other hand, Stephen Mnuchin, former U.S. Treasury Secretary under Trump, is voicing a different view. He said Trump would be careful not to spike inflation with tariffs and that during his first term certain products were spared so tariffs wouldn't affect American companies. In 2022, Chinese imports accounted for over 16 percent of total U.S. imports. And a report from S&P Global Ratings said higher tariffs on China could drive supply chains away from the country, though that won't necessarily bring jobs back to the U.S. In the case of Steve Madden, the company would source supplies from countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, Mexico and Brazil instead. It remains to be seen if Trump would actually levy a 60 percent tariff. The S&P Global Ratings report said it could be just a tactic to force Beijing to the negotiating table. Officials in Beijing are looking for ways to revive the struggling Chinese economy. On Friday, Beijing's financial body announced a plan to held by local governments lower levels of China's communist regime. 10 trillion yuan is equivalent to 8 percent of China's GDP and about 1.4 trillion dollars. Analysts say the move would prepare for potential trade penalties from the U.S. when Trump takes office next year. Zooming out, Bloomberg reported Thursday that Morgan Stanley is slated to remove 20 companies from its China index just days before Thanksgiving. Those include a Tesla supplier and the country's leading film production company, Wanda. China still holds the top position in Morgan Stanley's emerging market index at 27 percent. The move is seen as a reflection of declining foreign investor confidence in China, despite Beijing's attempts to stimulate its economy. In recent years, fundamental issues embedded in China's economy have floated to the surface, with almost all key industries trending downward. Beijing wants a deal with president-elect Trump to avoid steep trade penalties, preferably a face-to-face meeting before inauguration date. That message coming from an advisor to China's foreign ministry. His remark could offer a glimpse into Beijing's strategy, since Chinese officials rarely go off script. Here's a look. Wu Xinbo is the director at Fudan University's Center for American Studies in Shanghai. He doubles as an advisor to the Chinese foreign ministry. Wu told Bloomberg that a deal is desirable for the Chinese side, as they want to avoid harsh U.S. trade tariffs. Trump has said he wants a 60 percent tariff on goods from China. That would spell bad news for Beijing, as China's economy is hurting. Wu said tariffs are the top issue for China, adding that a face-to-face meeting between Chinese leaders Xi and Trump should happen soon, ideally before Trump takes office next January. He stressed China's need to get a sense of what's on Trump's mind. A rare move from a federal agency in the wake of a Chinese cyber attack. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has asked its staff to avoid using phones for work. That includes both personal and work-issued phones. Staff are directed to only use Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex for work-related meetings involving sensitive information. The agency told NTD that the request was in response to a recent Chinese cyber attack. Even though there's no evidence that CFPB was targeted, it's taking steps to reduce risks. Eleven days before the election, the FBI said it was investigating a Chinese breach into U.S. commercial telecommunications infrastructure. Following the news, Senator J.D. Vance said that Chinese hackers hacked his phone, adding he believes former President Trump's phone was hacked as well. Officials are still trying to figure out the scale and fallout of the breach. Republicans have won the U.S. Senate and are just seats away from taking the House. What could we expect from a Republican Congress? NTD's Melina Wisecup has more on the GOP policy agenda. Just 25 House races have yet to be called, mostly on the West Coast, and Republicans are getting very close to securing 218. And if they are successful there, they already have an agenda to get started on. Speaker Mike Johnson previously laid out five priorities that they'd like to address once they take the gavel. At the top of that list is invigorating the economy, and he noted that confronting China is a key element to doing so. Bipartisan work will continue as we take on Chinese companies that use forced labor and dodge tariffs through the de minimis exception. Congress also continues to have productive conversations about the best way to prevent American funds from flowing into firms that support the Chinese military. More and more people now understand that we support the Chinese economy at our own peril. The speaker committed to supporting tax cuts that will likely be pushed by President-elect Trump, as well as revamping U.S. oil and gas production. Another two priorities are to open up opportunities for school choice and slash the size of the federal government. And root out a long list of non-essential jobs throughout the federal bureaucracy. Our government is going to be a responsible government with a reduced scope and reduced spending. Now Speaker Mike Johnson does need to go through a re-election bid to remain the House Speaker. That race is shaping up for mid-December. Otherwise, the most challenging part for Republicans now in Congress will be to surpass the 60-vote threshold in the Senate in order to pass key pieces of legislation. With just 53 Republicans now, that means that most of these bills will need to be bipartisan in order to get enough Democrats on board to vote for them. As of right now, while Republicans have secured the Senate, they're just a few seats away from also securing the House. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Melina Weiskup, NTD News. Part of the red shift in Pennsylvania, Trump-backed Rep. Scott Perry won re-election against Democratic challenger Janelle Stelson. Perry was nine points down in the polls going into election night. The congressman is known for having a strong stance on China. Here's more. The Republican victory puts the GOP one seat closer to the 218 needed to secure the House majority. Earlier this year, Perry introduced the bipartisan Falun Gong Protection Act, the bill passing by a unanimous voice vote all Democrats and Republicans on June 25th with 18 co-sponsors. It is the first U.S. legislative bill addressing Beijing's brutal suppression of the spiritual faith to advance through the chamber. The bill now makes its way through the Senate and could reach President Biden's desk before the end of his term. Coming up, as Donald Trump prepares to return to the presidency in 2025, a familiar but strong challenger awaits, North Korea emboldened by tighter ties with Russia. Will Trump seek new talks with Pyongyang? China has summoned the Philippines ambassador soon after two laws on protecting South China Sea territories passed in the country. Beijing said the Philippine rules violate China's interests. These signals are resolved to protect our maritime resources. Meant to confront China's dark secret, forced organ harvesting. More on our report from London after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Stefania Cox in for Tiffany Meyer. When President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office in January, he'll be facing a North Korea that's stronger and bolder than ever. Leader Kim Jong-un now stands emboldened, backed by an and a deepening alliance with Russia. Here's the story. When Donald Trump resumes the presidency in 2025, he will face a familiar and emboldened foreign leader, North Korea's Kim Jong-un. During Trump's first term in office, he swung dramatically between leveling bellicose threats against Pyongyang. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. To an unprecedented three summits with the North Korean dictator aimed at cooling tensions over Kim's nuclear weapons and missile programs. We've really established a very good relationship. We had a very good meeting yesterday with North Korea. My relationship with Kim Jong-un is a good one. Those meetings eventually stalled and failed to achieve lasting changes in North Korea. Since Trump last met with Kim, the North has greatly expanded its arsenal of massive intercontinental ballistic missiles and weapons that could deliver nuclear warheads against the U.S. mainland or military bases in the region. American and South Korean officials have said Pyongyang has also reopened its nuclear testing site and stands ready to resume tests whenever Kim gives the order. Just this year, North Korea signed a mutual defense treaty with Russia, and officials in Washington, Seoul and Kyiv said Pyongyang has dispatched thousands of troops to assist Moscow's war in Ukraine. Tighter ties with Russia may weaken Washington's leverage. Russia has provided North Korea with oil and other imports, and vetoed the extension of a panel of experts that had been monitoring United Nations sanctions violations. Trump's camp did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether he will pursue new meetings with Kim. But diplomats in Seoul and other North Korea watchers say Trump's comments suggest he may look to rekindle a conversation with Kim sooner or later. Beyond illegal immigrants, fentanyl also continues to cross the border, taking American lives and fueling the opioid crisis. With President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House, how should America secure its borders? To help unpack this, NTD's Tiffany Meyer spoke with Bradley Thayer, founding member of the Committee on Present Danger China and co-author of Understanding the China Threat. Bradley Thayer, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you back on the show. It's my pleasure to join you again, Tiffany. Thank you. The opioid addiction we are seeing there. When it comes to, say, working with China, we've heard of working groups being set up in China, but many have mentioned, I think you've also said on our show in the past, that Xi Jinping could shut that down right now if he wanted to as in fentanyl coming across. But that also seems to be part of this weaponization that we are seeing. When it comes to solutions, so what is the solution here to ending, say, fentanyl, but also illegal Chinese immigration? Well, coercive measures have to be taken. Pressure has to be brought to bear on the Chinese regime, on Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party directly. The Biden-Harris administration will not do that, and certainly President Harris would not were she elected on November 5th. And so to stop fentanyl, to stop this weaponization of immigration, to deal with the nature of the threat from the Chinese Communist Party is going to require a change in administration. The Biden administration worked hand in glove in large measure with the Chinese regime, and it's quite logical to expect that Harris will too. You do have two books out, Understanding the China Threat and Embracing Communist China, What America Got Wrong. What would you like to see in terms of policy when it comes to China? I'd like to see the end of engagement with China and recognition that the Chinese Communist Party is an existential threat to the United States. The United States needs to formulate a strategy of victory over the Chinese Communist Party and execute that strategy of victory over the Chinese Party so that they're removed from power, and so that the Chinese people are going to be able to live in accord with the principles that they themselves realized, that they themselves determined, rather than dealing with really a product of Soviet imperialism. Again, the Chinese Communist Party is a product of the Soviet Union and of Soviet imperialist product, and so we need to recognize the regime is illegitimate. It's in fact a colonial government. In fact, it's essentially, again, put in power by the Soviet Union. Focusing on the Chinese Communist Party is what the Trump administration needs to do with a Reagan-esque strategy of we win and they lose so that the Chinese people can be ruled by the political principles that are in accord with Chinese philosophy and Chinese political history. Bradley Thayer, thank you so much for your time. My pleasure, Tiffany. Thank you very much. Moving to China's maritime disputes, the Philippines president signed two laws on Friday reaffirming the extent of the country's maritime territories and right to resources there. Areas mentioned in the law overlap with China's claims in the South China Sea. China soon responded that it had summoned the country's ambassador to protest against the Filipino rule. These signals are resolved to protect our maritime resources, preserve our rich biodiversity, and ensure that our waters remain a source of life and livelihood for all Filipinos. Stressed that the new laws are in line with international law. Despite that, the move angered Beijing. The Chinese regime claims almost the entire South China Sea, despite a 2016 international court ruling that Beijing's claims are invalid. China's foreign ministry called the Philippines law illegal and said that it infringes on China's rights and interests. A spokesperson warned that China would counter any move backed by the new Filipino law. The latest escalation between China and the Philippines could spark fears in Washington. That's over a Filipino treaty ally, meaning the U.S. could get pulled into a major conflict. A British lord is calling on the UK government to stand strong against China, in particular forced organ harvesting by the Chinese regime against prisoners of conscience. NTD's international correspondent Malcolm Hudson has more for us from London. British politician Lord David Alton says the British government must take a strong stance against the Chinese Communist Party and critically against human rights atrocities faced by the people of China. He spoke at a seminar covering how the Chinese regime subjects Falun Gong practitioners to forced organ harvesting, a crime where they are killed for their organs to supply a state sanctioned transplantation trade. Fei Han practices Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa. She was one of between 70 and 100 million people who took up this peaceful meditation in China during the 1990s. They aimed to follow the principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. But in 1999, the Chinese Communist Party launched a brutal persecution against Falun Gong, seeking to eradicate it. Practitioners faced detention, torture, rape, death and organ harvesting at the hands of the Chinese regime. Fei Han said she was detained multiple times for her faith. During the first couple times I was imprisoned, blood draws were definitely required and ultrasounds were done when I was lying down and chest x-rays when I was standing up. In 2022, she was detained again and doctors forcefully drew blood despite her struggles against it. The last time I was captured, there was an extra check. They put me in a machine and made me breathe in and out. There was radiation and the doctors and police all ran away in fear and it was just me alone there. She said the machine scanned her from head to toe, focusing on her chest and abdomen for longer periods, a sign they were checking the quality of her organs. International criminal law lawyer Eleanor Stevenson said forced organ harvesting cannot happen without facilitation from others both inside and outside of China. You have Chinese surgeons being trained by UK or other Western surgeons and then they are going back to China and carrying out forced organ harvesting operations in state hospitals. She also pointed to supply chains for drugs such as immunosuppressants as well as machinery. Stevenson wants the British government to help find medical collaborations tied to organ harvesting and help bring in laws to enforce stronger ethical standards for supply chains linked to China. International human rights lawyer David Matus said the UK does have the power to avoid being complicit. When it comes to avoiding complicity, that's totally within the power of the United Kingdom. They don't need the agreement of China to do any of it. When it comes to changing the behaviour of China, they can have an influence. They can increase the political cost to China of forced organ harvesting with prisoner of conscience victims. At the seminar in parliament, Lord Alton and other British politicians took on board policy proposals. For example, Lord Alton sought a list of names from human rights lawyer Matus of people known to be involved in forced organ harvesting with the view to implement sanctions against them. Matus said Britain is moving forward in the right direction and encourages it to move faster to help bring an end to the brutal persecution. Malcolm Hudson, NTD News, London. That's all for today's China In Focus. I'm Stefania Cox. If you have any feedback on the show or have something you'd like to see us cover, send an email at ChinaInFocus at NTD.com. We'd love to hear from you. For round-the-clock original news coverage, visit us at NTD.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you soon. Coming up on NTD, stay tuned for America's Hope with Kelly Wright. Tonight, Kelly zooms in on overcoming postpartum depression and addiction. He welcomes Dr. Ken Spiegel-Vogel to shed light on the challenge, while author Melissa Herré shares about her dramatic struggle with addiction. She details how she went from blackouts to blessings through the power of faith. That's tonight at 10 p.m. after China In Focus. Thanks for watching. See you later.