Trump suggests US could decouple from China, save ‘billions of dollars’

President Donald Trump suggested again on Monday that the US could “decouple” from China economically as tensions between Washington and Beijing surge.

“We lose billions of dollars, and if we didn’t do business with [China], we wouldn’t lose billions of dollars. It’s called decoupling, so you’ll start thinking about it,” Trump said during a briefing from the White House.

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The US president said that he would ban federal contracts being awarded to any companies that outsourced their work to China.

Speaking of the US economy, which was battered by the coronavirus pandemic, Trump said a “record 10.6 million jobs” were created in the four months this year.

Trump, who long touted friendly ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping as he sought to make good on promises to rebalance a massive trade deficit, has made getting tough on China a key part of his campaign for re-election on Nov. 3. He has accused his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, who leads in most opinion polls, of being soft toward Beijing.

“If Biden wins, China wins, because China will own this country,” he said.

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- With Reuters