As the list of human rights abuses committed by China’s communist regime continues to grow, its influence over the American economy, government, and institutions is also growing, a pair of U.S. lawmakers warn.

During Tuesday’s edition of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) was unequivocal in his assessment of which country poses the biggest threat to the U.S.

“[W]e’re facing a peer competitor in China,” he emphasized. “This is something that none of us have seen in our lifetimes. You think about the Soviet Union, how powerful they were. They never had an economy ever to rival ours. I mean, [it was] sort of close in the ’50s. After that, we blew them away economically. China is already with us toe to toe economically. Their military is larger than ours is.”

Hawley highlighted how the green agenda of the Biden administration and Democrats is contributing to China’s stranglehold on the U.S. economy and how it affects American consumers. “We are right now paying Chinese auto manufacturers who make electric vehicles. We are sending them tax subsidies to make electric vehicles in China and [they] then sell them back to us at a premium. That’s our tax money.”

At the same time, a report from The Washington Free Beacon revealed on Tuesday that a nonprofit organization run by former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials is funneling millions of dollars into U.S. universities and left-wing organizations to push green energy over fossil fuels. According to tax returns, a climate nonprofit which calls itself “Energy Foundation China” dispersed over $2 million to Harvard, the University of California, Berkeley, UCLA, and the University of Maryland as well as left-wing climate organizations such as the Rocky Mountain Institute and the International Council on Clean Transportation, which received the largest amount of $770,000.

As noted by the Beacon’s Thomas Catenacci, “The Chinese-tied organization’s involvement in the American climate movement is indicative of how China seeks to influence the United States economy and weaken the billion-dollar fossil fuel sector. China stands to benefit from a global green transition — Chinese businesses dominate solar, wind, and electric vehicle supply chains while America dominates oil and gas production.”

Hawley’s assessment was much the same. “China has benefited so much [from] solar panels [which are] made overwhelmingly [in] China, wind turbines [are] made in China, and not just made by anybody [but] by slave populations, the Uyghurs who are an enslaved religious minority. And here we are literally financing that. It’s insane. … We’ve got to stop that.”

The senator went on to argue that China and other countries must use American labor in order to export to the U.S. economy. “I think we ought to say to these foreign manufacturers that are based in other countries, whether it’s China or anywhere else, if you want to have access to our market, you’ve got to make a certain percentage of your goods in the United States of America with American labor.”

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) further echoed Hawley’s concerns during Tuesday’s “Washington Watch,” noting that the true beginning of China’s domination of the U.S. consumer goods market can be traced back to the Clinton administration. “[A]fter Tiananmen Square, when Bill Clinton linked human rights with trade, we all applauded him. One year later, he delinked … trade from human rights [on] May 26th, 1994. That’s when we lost China. And I don’t know if we ever get it back.”

“[T]hat’s when the Chinese took the measure of the United States of America and said, ‘All they care about are profits,’” Smith lamented. “I’m for profits, but there needs to be linkage. They’re an export economy. They can’t survive militarily or any other way without American markets. And we’re feeding the foe that wishes us to be destroyed.”

The congressman underscored the point by drawing attention to China’s actions in Asia. “You know, Taiwan, they want to take [it] over because it’s an economic powerhouse. They already took over Hong Kong. But the hegemony that they have for the whole region is so real. Just ask the Philippines and the leaders there. But they have global ambitions. Xi Jinping is a dictator who fashions himself as Mao Zedong.”

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins concurred, insisting that the Clinton administration’s delinking of human rights from economic trade “did more to change America than it did China in that we now have devalued human rights, really the rule of law, and we have elevated profit at almost any cost.”

“The devaluation is ever-present in every area,” Smith agreed. “Right now they’re killing people … to get their organs. … I even [talked to] one of the doctors that did them, and he said one of his victims wasn’t even properly anesthetized. And they usually take two to three organs per person, average age 28. I’ve had four hearings on it, and I just can’t believe that we can’t get the State Department to do more or the president, and I still can’t believe that the Senate is blocking my bill right now — forced organ harvesting legislation.”

Smith explained that his bill “would make sure that anyone who knowingly procures such an organ [is] held to account. The brokers, the Chinese leaders that are part of this, starting from the very top [with] Xi Jinping, we can sanction them [and] make it so that they can’t do business here on any other level, and would require extensive reporting by the Department of State, which they haven’t done.” He further explained that the Senate is blocking the legislation. “[T]hey don’t want to see it. They don’t want to hear about it. They don’t want to talk about it. They don’t want to have to act on it.”

Hawley and Smith both concluded that policies targeting China’s economy, which President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to use, will likely be the most effective means of keeping the communist regime in check.

“[W]e need to be sending the clear message that we’re not going to allow them just to expand indefinitely all across the world,” Hawley asserted. “We’re not going to put up with their imperialism. And we need to be also sending the clear message [that] we’re not going to allow them to cannibalize our economy, which [Biden] has absolutely allowed.”

Smith also signaled his support for an aggressive economic stance by relinking human rights with trade rights: “Let’s have a trade war with them.”