Trump says could ‘decouple’ and not do business with China

Monday, 24 August 2020 00:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

WASHINGTON (Reuters): US President Donald Trump, in a Fox News interview airing yesterday, raised the possibility of decoupling the US economy from China, a major purchaser of US goods.

In a video excerpt, Trump initially told interviewer Steve Hilton “we don’t have to” do business with China, and then later said about decoupling: “Well it’s something that if they don’t treat us right I would certainly, I would certainly do that.”

Trump entered into a high-stakes trade war with China before reaching a partial Phase 1 trade deal in January. Trump has since shut the door on Phase 2 negotiations, saying he was unhappy with Beijing’s handling of the pandemic.

In June US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a decoupling of the US and Chinese economies will result if US companies are not allowed to compete on a fair and level basis in China’s economy.