US President Donald Trump on June 18 repeated his threat to sever ties with China. Trump, in its twitter, said that the US maintained a policy option to completely decouple from China under various conditions. This followed his statement last month saying that he had no interest in talking to President Xi Jinping, signalling a further deterioration in the relationships of both nations.
Trump’s renewed threat came a day after US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in front of Congress that decoupling the US economy from the Chinese economy is not a reasonable policy option right now. Lighthizer noted that a bilateral trade deal with China would result in increased Chinese purchases of US products and services.
The world’s two largest economies have been involved in spats over various issues including the trade war, the COVID-19 pandemic, Uyghur ethnic discrimination, and China’s move in Hong Kong. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi met in Hawaii in an unusual high-level face-to-face meeting.
