China remains a hot issue for Congress: Over 50 bills related to bilateral ties are now being considered, according to GovTrack. They are overwhelmingly sponsored by Republicans and span subject areas from ports to agriculture and the defense of Taiwan.

Trump’s still-evolving China policy has hewed closely to trade aspects of the bilateral relationship, the subject of rounds of talks with Beijing that have also been aimed at securing a meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Yet it is clear that even Republicans on Capitol Hill want tougher action on Beijing. 

The new human-rights bills build on findings from a Capitol Hill body, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which is chaired by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R., Alaska) and co-chaired by Rep. Chris Smith (R., N.J.). They are sponsors of the legislation along with Democrats, including the grouping’s former chair, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.).

Merkley described Trump as backing down on human rights to placate China, adding that the new bipartisan legislation shows that “Congress will hold the Chinese government accountable for its terrible human-rights record.”

In another instance—after the White House recently reversed a prohibition on sales to China of high-end chips for artificial intelligence by Nvidia in what was seen as a concession to Beijing on trade—Rep. John Moolenaar (R., Mich.), who chairs a House committee on China, said the initial ban was the right call.

“We can’t let the [the Chinese Communist Party] use American chips to train AI models that will power its military, censor its people, and undercut American innovation,” Moolenaar said in a post on X. Moolenaar is also backing some of the new human-rights legislation.

In response to questions about the legislative efforts, the White House said that “President Trump has publicly discussed his desire for a constructive relationship with China” and noted progress on securing access to rare-earth magnets, leveling the playing field for American industry and stopping the flow of the opioid fentanyl.

To address signs of China’s efforts to enforce its own practices to stifle dissent in the U.S., for example among diaspora communities, the newly introduced Transnational Repression Policy Act would require federal agencies to develop a strategy to blunt such activity.

If the measure becomes law, it would expand a definition of foreign agents that American prosecutors have used against people working on behalf of Beijing to target dissidents in the U.S. and otherwise beef up American law enforcement to combat state-sponsored repression.

A separate Uyghur bill would build on existing American laws designed to counter widespread abuse of China’s Turkic ethnic minorities that already prohibit imports from the region of Xinjiang that Uyghurs call home.

The Uyghur Genocide and Sanctions Accountability Act of 2025 would broaden existing sanctions to include banning the U.S. military from buying seafood from China, out of concern it may be produced with forced Chinese or North Korean labor. It would also direct the Smithsonian Institution to develop programs to preserve Uyghur cultural heritage. 

“This legislation ensures the United States holds accountable not only the perpetrators of these horrific crimes but also those who support or profit from them,” Sullivan said. He called Chinese acts of repression in the U.S. “outrageous and unacceptable.”

A spokesman for China’s Embassy in Washington challenged the legislation, saying in a statement that the Uyghur bill “maliciously smears the human-rights situation” and termed allegations of repression a “completely fabricated topic.”

Although Trump has so far focused on trade, the president’s team during his first term is credited with turning Washington’s attention to the Uyghur cause and stepping up hawkishness generally toward China. In the final days of that administration, the State Department determined that China’s treatment of Uyghurs constitutes genocide, a position that was maintained during the Biden years. 

Another potential wrinkle from Capitol Hill is a plan for an August congressional trip to Taiwan led by Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, according to a senior congressional official. Wicker himself declined to comment on the news, reported earlier by the Financial Times.

Congressional visits to Taiwan are a regular affair but nevertheless spark ire in Beijing, and sometimes lead to a freeze in dialogue.

The Chinese Embassy cited Beijing’s opposition to any official interaction between the U.S. and Taiwan and called on members of Congress to cancel any travel plans.