GOP Senate Candidate Dr. Oz’s History of Kowtowing to China Comes Under Fire

Celebrity Doctor Mehmet Oz, who is running as a tough-on-China candidate, is coming under fire for his long history with the communist country in the race to fill Pennsylvania’s Senate seat.

Dr. Oz, who had attempted to smear one of his opponents — David McCormick — for his record on China when he was a former hedge fund CEO, has pretty glaring ties to China that he had exposed during and after his 12-year run on The Dr. Oz Show. During a large portion of his TV show’s on-air run, Dr. Oz had a lucrative sponsorship deal with Usana Health Sciences.

The company is a “multilevel marketing company that manufactures nutritional supplements, skincare, and ‘wellness’ products.” It conveniently had China as its “largest market and single largest source of revenue,” according to their 2020 annual report, first reported by Politico. According to Politico, China made up roughly 41 percent of the company’s net sales and approximately 38 percent of its active customers at the time and happened to be where they make some of their products.

While being an American-based company, the company also had a major Chinese subsidiary — BabyCare — that reportedly acquired licensing from the government of China to sell its products in the communist country. Politico noted that Dr. Oz frequently featured Usana’s products and called it a “trusted partner and sponsor.”

The report stated that the “exact amount that Oz and his show made from its Usana relationship is unclear,” but a 2018 court filing indicated that he was paid more than $50 million for the previous five years. Both Dr. Oz’s campaign spokesperson Brittany Yanick and Usana spokesperson Dan Macuga disputed the numbers, with Yanick saying they were “incorrect and overinflated.”

The report from Politico also added:

In 2017, Usana’s Chinese subsidiary opened a new $40 million, 350,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Beijing that makes nutritional supplements for its Chinese customers, with a top company executive saying at the time they were “committed to customer growth in China.” Its worldwide corporate headquarters and an adjacent U.S. manufacturing facility are in Salt Lake City. It owns another manufacturing facility in Tianjin, China.

In a 2021 promotional video for his book called “Yin Yang You: Biohacking with Ancient Codes,” Oz talked about how he has “teamed up with Usana for over a decade to journey around the world seeking out the very best science to help you live better and longer.” In the video, Oz lavishly praises Usana and said its “global efforts to seek out health solutions knows no bounds” and that he had a chance to study with “world-renowned” traditional Chinese medicine doctors. A few years earlier, he blew a kiss to employees of Usana in a holiday video.

In addition, Oz has traveled to China for business purposes. After a three-day trip to China in 2018, a press release said Oz “filmed segments for his shows” and conducted interviews with the Chinese state-owned CCTV. Shortly before his trip in 2018, Oz said in a video that he “love[s] working in China” and would be “speaking to Chinese media.” He also went to Chinathe next year for a nutritional conference hosted by Usana BabyCare.

The report also explained that Usana’s 2018 annual report showed their company’s partnership with Dr. Oz’s show was, at the time, “focused on our North America region historically” but turned their “focuses on China” as well.

However, Dr. Oz also kowtowed to China in an interview with Chinese state TV in July 2018 when he publicly criticized former President Donald Trump’s trade policies toward Beijing. In an interview uncovered by the Washington Free Beacon, CGTN, a Chinese state media network under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), aired an interview with Dr. Oz opposing the Trump-era trade war with the communist country.

Dr. Oz said, “I don’t think trade wars are worth it,” but showed support for collaboration in healthcare, saying that it could be “one of the ways we can bridge our relationship.” The Beacon reported that the host, Tian Wei, has also vocally opposed America and “has been a vocal critic of China hawks in the U.S. government, and once compared Trump to an infant in a post on social media.”

Additionally, in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Oz championed CCP’s approach, saying the United States should “copy” their aggressive “draconian” response to coronavirus by locking down their citizens. “Take their blueprint and repeat it here in this country,” Oz said.

All of this goes against what appears to be his current position on China, which is to urge President Joe Biden to be “tougher” on Beijing while also accusing the CCP of currency manipulation and stealing American intellectual property.

Dr. Oz believes the United States has failed to respond to the global Chinese threat,” his website currently states. “Every year we see more and more companies ship American jobs overseas, while failing to stand up to China as they steal our intellectual property and manipulate their currency.”

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.