In the wake of the arrest of yet another Chinese national attempting to smuggle a bioweapon into the U.S., trade talks continued between the U.S. and China in London this week, with the announcement of a potential truce being reached. One expert says that the Trump administration should risk some domestic economic volatility in order for the U.S. to extricate itself from economic dependance on China.

On Monday, Customs and Border Protection announced the arrest of Chanxuan Han, a Wuhan-based researcher, who is facing “smuggling charges related to biological materials related to round worms, a parasitic organism.” The Justice Department stated that Han initially lied to officials after landing at the Detroit Metro Airport about having sent several packages containing the parasites to a lab at the University of Michigan. The incident comes just a week after two other Chinese nationals were arrested on charges of attempting to smuggle a highly toxic fungus into a University of Michigan laboratory.

Gordon Chang, a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute who serves as an expert on U.S.-Chinese relations, insists that the incidents are part of a “concerted plan.”

“In 2020, Americans in all 50 states received seeds from China unsolicited,” he noted during “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Tuesday. “This year, Temu, the online Chinese retailer, was sending seeds unsolicited to Americans. That’s, I believe, an attempt to plant invasive species. That’s an attack on our agriculture. This fungus that has now been brought in, that’s an attack on our agriculture, too. This is a biological weapons attack … on the United States of America, and I hope the Trump administration treats it with the seriousness that it deserves.”

Meanwhile, Trump administration officials met with Chinese officials in London Tuesday, where they agreed on a trade framework pending final approval by President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump later posted on Truth Social that the deal kept in place the U.S. 55% tariffs on Chinese goods, while China retained 10% tariffs on American goods. The deal would also stipulate China putting a six-month limit on rare-earth export licenses for U.S. automakers and manufacturers.

Chang contends that China’s engagement in trade talks with the U.S. is merely a delay tactic.

“The more delay, the better, from their perspective,” he observed. “And we know that because right after the May 12th agreement, they had a 90-day pause on elevated tariff rates. The Global Times — which is controlled by People’s Daily [which] is the most authoritative publication in China — said 90 days would not be enough to negotiate a trade deal. Well, of course it’s enough if you want to have a trade deal, but the Chinese just want to, I think, just shine us on.”

Still, Chang went on to argue that China has more to lose if it does not maintain stable trade relations with the U.S.

“[I]t’s because their economy is failing right now,” he explained. “And we know this from price data from February, March, April, and May. China is in a deflationary spiral. Deflation is an economy killer. Even their exports are down. So, yes, we have some vulnerabilities, like rare earths, but the Chinese have greater vulnerabilities. And we should remember that as we negotiate, because what the Chinese are trying to do is to intimidate us, and almost all the time it works. I would hope that President Trump says, ‘No, I’m not going to be intimidated by Xi Jinping.’”

Chang further acknowledged that moving the U.S. economy away from economic dependance on China will be painful and “could be a political problem,” but will be worth it in the long run.

“I’m not so sure that the prices are going to increase that much because businesses have a lot of ability to adjust,” he contended. “But we’ve got to remember, we have maintained really misguided trade policies for three decades, and we have maintained really misguided China policies for three decades. So, as President Trump says, we’re not going to get out of this without some cost. And the issue is, do we want manufacturing in the United States? If we’re going to do that, which is absolutely critical, in my view, we are going to have to bear some costs. This is going to be either we give up our sovereignty to China and say, ‘Let them rule the world,’ or we’re going to have to rebuild our manufacturing and we’re going to have some sacrifices along the way.”

Chang concluded by emphasizing that the time is now to initiate an economic reset with China.

“[T]he longer we delay this, the deeper the hole we’re in,” he maintained. “So right now … all the underlying indicators that we see actually point to a shrinking economy [in China]. So let’s tell Xi Jinping, ‘Your economy is shrinking and we’ll make it shrink even more if you’re going to continue to violate your trade deals with us.’ China violates every agreement it makes. And, you know, at some point … President Trump’s got to say to the markets, ‘Look, we’re just not going to put up with this anymore.”