“If the Chinese vampire can’t suck the American blood, it’s going to suck the U.K. blood and the EU blood,” Navarro told the Telegraph. “This is a very dangerous time for the world economies with respect to exposure to China.”
Britain’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Foreign Secretary David Lammy have both visited China in recent months as part of the Labour government’s “pragmatic re-engagement” with Beijing.
Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein has also been eyeing London for its controversial IPO and Reeves recently said the British capital was the “natural home” for China’s money.
“Beware of authoritarian mercantilist regimes bearing gifts,” Navarro said.
Navarro, one of the few officials to survive Trump’s entire first term, is a long-term critic of China and is the driving force behind the bid to isolate Beijing and return manufacturing to the U.S.
Despite Labour ministers’ visits to China, the U.K. government’s relationship with Beijing appears to have become cooler in recent weeks.
It has forced Chinese company Jingye to give up control of British Steel, launched a review into the tax rules fueling e-commerce giants like Temu and Shein, and moved to ban solar panels linked to forced labor in Xinjiang from state-backed energy projects.