The CIA now asserts with low confidence that COVID-19 likely originated from a laboratory. The report, declassified under John Ratcliffe, points to China as the source despite deficient evidence. The ongoing debate on the virus's origin has domestic and global implications,

The movement to eliminate the free trade perks China enjoys in the U.S. is gaining steam under Republican control of government.

The virus that started the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a lab in China, the CIA said in a new assessment, though it has no conclusive evidence.

Republican senators have introduced a bill that would ban Chinese citizens from purchasing any land in the United States. Arkansas' Tom Cotton, Alabama's Katie Britt, and North Dakota's Kevin Cramer introduced the Not One More Inch or Acre Act on Wednesday.

The Central Intelligence Agency said Saturday that it’s more likely a lab leak caused the Covid-19 pandemic than an infected animal that spread the virus to people, changing the agency’s yearslong stance that it couldn’t conclude with certainty where the pandemic started.

US Senator Tom Cotton has criticised China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status, highlighting its detrimental impact on both the US economy and national security. In a post shared on X, Senator Cotton stated,

GOP Senators are taking a hard line against TikTok and defying President Trump who wants to delay the app from getting banned with Sens. Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham leading the charge

The bill would “suspend normal trade relations” with China and increase tariffs on all Chinese exports to the United States to at least 35 percent.

Sen. Tom Cotton urges action on TikTok, citing national security risks and its harmful impact on American youth.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, which many Republicans, including Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders, have decried as having “significant ties to the Chinese Communist Party.” No critic has been louder than Tom Cotton, who says TikTok is “a Chinese Communist spy app” that “ endangers our national security and poisons our children .”

Markey introduced his "Extend the TikTok Deadline Act" bill on Wednesday, which would extend the deadline by 270 days. His legislative attempt to extend the deadline was thwarted by two Republicans, one of which being Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, calling TikTok a Chinese communist spy app.

The Republican chairs of Congress' two intelligence committees think the best option for TikTok's future is for its China-based parent company to sell its stake in the social media platform, dissolving national security concerns and worries the Chinese government could access Americans' data.