On this episode of the podcast, the Honorable Steve Yates who is a Senior Fellow for China and National Security at The Heritage Foundation and who served as the former Deputy National Security Advisor to the Vice President, unpacks the complexities of the U.S.-China trade relationship.

Yates offers a clear-eyed analysis of President Donald Trump’s recent tariff strategy, emphasizing the need to correct longstanding trade imbalances and counter harmful Chinese policies. He criticizes decades of permissive U.S. engagement with China, arguing for a safer, fairer approach that protects American interests. This conversation also gets personal as Yates shares the heartbreaking story of losing his daughter to fentanyl, passionately calling for fentanyl precursors that China manufacturers to be labeled as “weapons of mass destruction” and urging a whole-of-government response to the ongoing crisis.

You can learn all about Steve Yates and his great work by visiting Heritage.org or by following him on X (formerly Twitter) by searching for his handle: @YatesComms.