Sasse: Saudi oil deal with China is 'big, bad thing,' that could be sign of global shift away from US

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Sen. Ben Sasse on Russia-Ukraine war: US needs to 'rearm' Ukrainians 'constantly'

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., joined 'Fox News Sunday' to discuss how the Biden administration is supporting the Ukrainians and what the U.S. should continue to do in order to help them prevail against Russia.

News that Saudi Arabia is considering pricing oil sales to China using the Chinese yuan instead of the U.S. dollar has Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., concerned the U.S. could be losing its footing on the world stage.

In an interview with "Fox News Sunday," Sasse said this development, along with how the war between Russia and Ukraine develops, could send a message to the rest of the world that could have a significant impact.

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"Just this point of the Saudis pricing some of their commodity in Chinese currency or signaling that that’s where they’re headed, that is a big, bad thing," Sasse said. "But let’s take a bigger step up. The 10-year-out existential battle on the globe is between the United States and Western values against the Chinese Communist Party’s exported surveillance state oppression of peoples around the globe."

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Sasse then addressed why, if China is really a main concern, he is so worried about Russia and Ukraine. 

"Partly because Chairman Xi greenlit this invasion," Sasse explained. "And so we need to recognize that defeating Vladirmir Putin or helping the Ukrainians defeat Putin here is an important shot across the bow of Chairman Xi, who wanted to see if the West had any will to stand up to Putin because Xi desires to seize Taiwan."

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Sasse went on to say that China’s objective of trying to "displace the dollar" is something the U.S. must monitor.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb. 

"We need to keep our eye on this because we need to demonstrate that freedom-loving peoples around the world would rather have U.S. leadership than Chinese oppression," Sasse said.

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Sasse claimed that other countries would not gravitate toward China out of preference for its policies but out of concern that "America is weak." 

"We need our commander in chief to be strong, both in these conversations with Chairman Xi but more proximately in this moment with arming the Ukrainians immediately and rapidly," Sasse concluded.