EXCLUSIVE — A conservative coalition provides political cover for President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China with a new ad as top administration aides sit down with their Chinese counterparts in Sweden to discuss a trade deal and economists debate the economic consequences of tariffs.
The Protecting America Initiative, founded by first Trump administration alumni Richard Grenell and Chad Wolf last year, will debut its new ad, “Screwed,” with a six-figure buy on Wednesday.
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The PAI ad urges Trump to pursue “tough tariffs” on China in order to “bring manufacturing back home and restore balance to an unfair system that lets China get too close to our food supply.”
The 30-second ad starts with the narrator contending, “China put a target on our back, taking aim at factories and farms.”
“When they control our jobs and our food supply, they control our future,” the narrator says. “But when China tried to screw us, Trump put the screws to China, and it’s working.”
The ad concludes by imploring the audience to “stand with President Trump” and “stand with Made in America.”
The latest PAI ad coincides with the Trump administration’s National Farm Security Action Plan, which is being circulated this month. The plan proposes policies to protect U.S. farmland, food supply chains, and critical research from foreign adversaries. For example, it would prevent Chinese nationals from purchasing farmland and the Department of Agriculture from contracting certain foreign nationals and entities.
“We feed the world. We lead the world. And we’ll never let foreign adversaries control our land, our labs, or our livelihoods,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote in a statement at the time. “This action plan puts America’s farmers, families, and future first — exactly where they belong.”
The plan was released one month after two Chinese researchers were charged with plotting to smuggle a toxic fungus capable of poisoning crops and people into a University of Michigan lab, exacerbating national security concerns over agroterrorism.
PAI has commissioned multiple ads encouraging Trump and Republicans to counter threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party, from another six-figure spot in May called “Together,” which also underscored the importance of safeguarding the U.S. food supply to Congress, to another in January called “Stand with Trump,” which targeted GOP state legislators regarding the same. Other spots have criticized China for its inaction concerning fentanyl trafficking and then-Vice President Kamala Harris for “opening the door to China.”
In addition to ads, PAI conducted polling last month that reported a majority of U.S. voters would prefer retailers to “eat” the costs of Trump’s tariffs. Before that, the coalition pitched a policy blueprint to lawmakers related to the CCP in April and held a roundtable before last year’s election with Trump and Pennsylvania farmers about the risks posed by communist China.
Founder Grenell was one of Trump’s ambassadors to Germany before becoming acting director of national intelligence during the president’s first administration. He has returned to Trump’s second administration as the special presidential envoy for special missions and the president and executive director of the Kennedy Center. Wolf was acting Secretary of Homeland Security during the first administration.
Wednesday’s ad coincides with the third round of trade negotiations between the U.S. and China this week in Stockholm. These negotiations are expected to end with a three-month extension of the Aug. 12 deadline for resolving the ongoing trade dispute. Other countries have until Friday before historically high tariffs take effect.
The U.S. currently imposes tariffs on Chinese goods imported into the country at a rate of 51%, while China imposes a 32.6% duty on U.S. exports. Levies could increase to 145% if the two countries do not reach a deal.
“Sometimes I’ll do something that I shouldn’t do because it’s not very important for our country, but it’s very meaningful for the country on the other side,” Trump said last weekend in Scotland.
On Monday, the president expressed optimism about a deal with China, telling reporters he would “love to see China open up their country.”
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“We have a good relationship with China,” he said. “China is tough… We all are tough. We are going to see what happens.”