Conservative political leader’s position on China questioned over links to sponsors

Oren Cass, founder of the Washington-based think tank American Compass, has built a reputation as one of the right’s most vocal advocates for economic nationalism and “strategic decoupling” from Beijing.

Yet recent details about the group’s corporate partnerships and staff affiliations raise questions about the consistency between its rhetoric and operations.

In essays and media appearances, Cass has argued that the United States needs to take a tougher stance toward China and prioritize domestic manufacturing and independence from Chinese supply chains.

In a 2023 Foreign Affairs report essayCass and a colleague warned that the United States “must break with China or be irrevocably corrupted by it,” arguing that economic interdependence had already “weakened America’s industrial base and limited its political will.”

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Oren Cass became (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images)

In the same essay, Cass and his co-author argue that China’s influence extends deeply to American research and policy institutions.

“China has long targeted American universities, think tanks, and research institutions for economic gain and to advance its own ideological agenda,” they wrote, adding that these organizations “must agree to processes and controls designed to ensure the integrity and security of their work.”

They went further by calling for legal restrictions. “US law should be amended to prohibit these institutions from entering into partnerships with China-based and affiliated entities. Any funding flowing from institutions in one country to those in the other must be stopped.”

Lawmakers from both parties have long expressed concerns that Chinese government exploits educational exchanges, research partnerships and commercial investments in the United States to cover its espionage activities. These warnings have intensified in recent years amid growing scrutiny of Beijing’s influence operations on American soil.

The national flags of the United States and China fly at the Fairmont Peace Hotel on April 25, 2024 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images)

On July 28, 2025, Cass joined a group of policymakers and national security experts as part of a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, expressing “deep concern” over the decision to resume exports of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China.

The group warned that the Trump administration’s decision “represents a strategic misstep that endangers the United States’ economic and military advantage in artificial intelligence.” He reiterated his position during a conversation on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, where he spoke out against lifting export restrictions on advanced computer chips going to China.

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And yet Cass’s hardline rhetoric on China seems at odds with the realities of operating a Washington think tank in a globalized economy.

In June 2025, American Compass held a lavish fifth anniversary gala at the National Building Museum in Washington, an event funded in part by Qualcomm, BlackRock and Google, companies whose global operations remain deeply tied to the Chinese economy.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrives to speak at the American Compass Fifth Anniversary Gala alongside American Compass Founder and Chief Economist Oren Cass (left) at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, June 3, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

China is the second largest country in the world economy and a key trading partner for American businesses, making such financial entanglements common in Washington’s political landscape.

Fox News Digital has contacted Qualcomm, BlackRock and Google for comment; none responded before publication.

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Additionally, American Compass’ personnel and consulting relationships have also raised questions. The organization’s director of events and operations previously worked for Alibaba Group, one of China’s largest technology companies.

Additionally, an economist on the group’s advisory board is also a professor at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, a leading business institution with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Cass and American Compass did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

While none of these associations are illegal or unusual in Washington, they complicate Cass’s image as a champion of economic separation from China and highlight the difficulty of pursuing that ideal while relying on corporate sponsors.