Trump says he can force US firms to cut China ties

BIARRITZ, France — President Trump asserted Saturday that he has the authority to make good on his threat to force all U.S. businesses to leave China, citing a national security law that has been used mainly to target terrorists, drug traffickers and pariah states like Iran, Syria and North Korea.

As he arrived in France for the annual meeting of the Group of Seven powers, Trump posted a message on Twitter citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, a law originally meant to enable a president to isolate criminal regimes, not sever economic ties with a major trading partner over a tariff dispute.

“For all of the Fake News Reporters that don’t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977,” Trump wrote. “Case closed!”

The president’s threat to all but cut off one of America’s most important trading relationships could disrupt a global economy already on the edge of recession amid his trade war while further unsettling companies in the U.S. that rely on China in their production and sale of everything from clothing to smartphones.

Trump often has made drastic threats as a negotiating ploy to force a partner to offer concessions, as when he vowed to close the border with Mexico or impose tariffs on its goods to force action to halt illegal immigration. But if he were to follow through, it would be the most significant break with China since President Richard Nixon’s diplomatic opening to Beijing in the early 1970s.

Trump’s claim that he has the power to order U.S. companies to pull out of China also represents the latest assertion of authority by a president who has repeatedly crossed lines that his predecessors have not.

“Any invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act...