Trump Again Moots ‘Decoupling’ from China

Sept. 8, 2020 (EIRNS)—In his Labor Day press conference, President Donald Trump suggested “decoupling” from China was an interesting subject to start talking about, linking the idea this time also to military competition.

“China is spending the money we give them to build up their military. So when you mention the world ‘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,” he said during his opening remarks. “They take our money, and they spend it on building airplanes and building ships and building rockets and missiles.”

Trump also reiterated his intention to “make America into the manufacturing superpower of the world”—but the impediment to that is not China, but the Wall Street financial cancer. Trump asserted that “whether it’s decoupling or putting in massive tariffs like I’ve been doing already, we’re going to end our reliance on China because we can’t rely on China. And I don’t want them building a military like they’re building right now, and they’re using our money to build it.” He suggested U.S. federal contracts with companies that outsource to China may also be prohibited.