Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after, H.R. 1135, the Countering Economic Coercion Act of 2023, legislation cosponsored along with House Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (NY-05), received a markup and passed out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. If signed into law, this legislation would provide the executive branch new tools to provide rapid economic support to partners and allies to counter economic coercion from the People’s Republic of China and hold it accountable for its actions.
“Aggression from Communist China comes in various forms, including using economic retaliation against other countries in an attempt to pressure or extort them to adopt or change polices or to exact retribution in response to sovereign decisions Beijing does not like,” said Cole. “The United States cannot stand idly by and allow this nation that goes against the rules-based system to bully other nations by targeted economic coercion tactics. This can help provide an alternate path to acquiescence to Chine pressure tactics. I applaud Ranking Member Meeks, Congresswoman Kim and Congressman Bera for their assistance in crafting this legislation, as well as Chairman McCaul for his constructive leadership and assistance through committee. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to getting this important legislation across the House floor.”
The markup and vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee can be found here.
