Trump Again Raises Prospect of 'Decoupling' US Economy From China

On Sept. 7, President Donald Trump again raised the prospect of decoupling the U.S. economy from Beijing, to bring back manufacturing jobs from China and key supply chains back to the United States. On Monday, the president reiterated parts of his second term economic agenda to make the United States “more prosperous and resilient than ever before” by reducing its reliance on Beijing. Trump said in his Labor Day speech at the White House: “So when you mention the word decouple, it’s an interesting word. So we lose billions of dollars, and if we didn’t do business with them, we wouldn’t lose billions of dollars. It’s called ‘decoupling.’ So you’ll start thinking about it.” As the presidential election nears, Trump has pledged as part of his reelection bid to reduce the nation’s reliance on China as the world’s biggest manufacturer. Last month, the president floated the idea of a complete decoupling from China during his second term, meaning cutting off economic ties for national and strategic reasons.