Vice President J.D. Vance incited backlash after making a controversial statement about Chinese people during an April 3 interview on Fox & Friends.
The 40-year-old politician defended President Donald Trump and his plans for the global economy after he enacted sweeping tariffs on foreign goods on his so-called “Liberation Day.”
His tariffs were blasted by politicians and citizens from both sides of the aisle. However, Vance argued that they served an important purpose in moving the United States away from what he described as a “globalist economy.”
While explaining his stance, he referred to Chinese people as “peasants.”
Vice President J.D. Vance and President Donald Trump (from left) in January 2025.
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty
“What has the globalist economy gotten the United States of America? And the answer is, fundamentally, it’s based on two principles — incurring a huge amount of debt to buy things that other countries make for us,” he said, adding, “To make it a little more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”
Vance continued, saying, “That is not a recipe for economic prosperity. It’s not a recipe for low prices. And it’s not a recipe for good jobs in the United States of America.”
Vance’s insulting remarks made their way to Chinese social media site Weibo, where they became the top trending topic on Monday, April 7, and racked up more than 140 million views by Tuesday morning, according to CNN.
During a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that it was “both astonishing and lamentable to hear this vice president make such ignorant and disrespectful remarks,” via CNN.
“This true ‘peasant’ who came out of rural America seems to have a lack of perspective,” Hu Xijin, an influential former journalist at the state-run tabloid Global Times, wrote on Weibo. “Many people are urging him to come and see China for himself.”
Others online made references to Vance’s own working-class upbringing, which he documented in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.
J.D. Vance in July 2024.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty
Since being sworn in as vice president, Vance has continued his streak of controversial statements that began well before joining the ticket.
He generated headlines and memes after a February Oval Office meeting where he shouted at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and blasted him as “disrespectful” for expressing his views.
“Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems,” he said as tempers escalated during the meeting. “You should be thanking the president for trying to bring you into this conference.”
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More recently, Vance supported the president’s proposal to annex Greenland, insisting during a visit that the territory would be safest under U.S. control, despite polling in Greenland that shows enormous opposition to being absorbed by Trump.
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