If elected, will ban US companies doing business with China: Vivek Ramaswamy
3 min read 05 Mar 2023, 10:05 AM IST‘If we want to declare independence from China, that means we got to be willing to ban most US businesses from doing business in China until the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) falls,’ Ramaswamy said
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Indian-American tech sector entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who announced last week his decision to enter the 2024 race for US presidential poll, has made a bold statement against US companies working with China.
The author of “Woke, Inc," told his fellow conservative Republicans if he gets elected he would ban all those American companies that are doing business with China.
"I think it is important, to be honest. If we want to declare independence from China, that means we got to be willing to ban most US businesses from doing business in China until the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) falls or until the CCP radically reforms itself. Because there is no easy way out other than taking that band-aid and ripping it right off," he said.
Besides, Ramaswamy has proposed disruptive ideas of dismantling the Department of Education along with the FBI.
"I have already said last week, the first agency we will shut down and need to shut down in the United States is the US Department of Education. It has no reason to exist. Never should have existed.
"And today, I am ready to announce the second government agency that I will shut down in this country we should have done this at least 60 years ago. It has hurt Republicans and Democrats alike. We are going to get it done as finally, it is time to shut down the FBI in America and create something new to take its place because we are done with the J Edgar Hoover legacy to let this be a self-governing nation again," he said.
"The Declaration of Independence of today is our declaration of independence from China. If Thomas Jefferson were alive today, that is the Declaration of Independence he would sign. That is the Declaration of Independence I will sign if I am elected as your next president," the 37-year-old said.
Ramaswamy made this statement during his address to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) -- the top annual event of the Republican Party and its support base.
Further, lauding former US President Donal trump, the entrepreneur said, "He is inspired by former president Donald Trump, 76, and his American first vision". He added that it is time to identify the issues and work aggressively toward them.
In his 18-minute speech, Ramaswamy said "three secular religions have America in a choke hole today".
The first of them is this "woke racial religion" that says someone's identity is based on his skin colour. "That if you are black, you are inherently disadvantaged. That if you are white, you are inherently privileged no matter your economic background or your upbringing. That your race determines who you are and what you can achieve in life," he said.
This has created "this new culture of fear in America", combined with the "second secular religion" that says the "sex of the person you are attracted to has to be hardwired on the day you were born" but your own biological sex is completely fluid over the course of your lifetime".
"It makes no sense unless it is a religion. It does not match up to reason, it matches up to religion. And then it makes the same move as the first religion," Ramaswamy said.
The third one is the climate religion in America that says that "we have to fight carbon emissions at all costs in the US while we shift those same carbon emissions to places like China that supposedly, even if you believe in this religion, you would have embraced nuclear energy, which is the best form of carbon-free energy production known to mankind".
He said that the US is in the middle of a national identity crisis.
Ramaswamy said he is all in on the "America first" agenda. "Believe me, I am an America first conservative. I will not apologise for it. But to put America first, we now need to rediscover what America is. And that is why last week I announced my run for US president to deliver a national identity that we are missing in this country," he said.
"This means that you believe in merit, that you get ahead in this country, not on the colour of your skin, but on the content of your character and your contributions. And that is why as the US president, I have pledged to get rid of affirmative action in this country once and for all. It is national cancer on our soul," he said.
