Daines, Colleagues Sound Alarm on China’s Dominance in Global Payments Market

U.S. SENATE – Senator Steve Daines and Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee urged the Biden administration to confront the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) expanding footprint in the U.S. financial system and global payments market.

The senators sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, in which the senators warn that rapidly expanding Chinese payment networks may undermine U.S. foreign policy, threaten Americans’ sensitive financial and consumer data privacy, and violate international trade practices. In addition to calling for the Administration to examine the infiltration of Chinese payment networks into the U.S., the senators urge the Biden administration to evaluate CCP’s unfair commercial practices toward U.S. companies and review potential U.S. sanctions gaps related to China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing efforts to expand its footprint in the United States’ (“U.S.”) financial system and the global payments market…undermine U.S. foreign policy, threaten Americans’ sensitive financial and consumer data privacy, and violate international trade practices,” the senators wrote. “…Efforts by the CCP to infiltrate the U.S. financial system must be met with extreme scrutiny.”

Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) joined Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai.

Read the full letter here.