China, in his words · First term · № 70
Said a 'complete decoupling from China' remained a policy option
“It was not Ambassador Lighthizer's fault (yesterday in Committee) in that perhaps I didn't make myself clear, but the U.S. certainly does maintain a policy option, under various conditions, of a complete decoupling from China. Thank you!”
- Said
- , Post on Twitter (@realDonaldTrump)
- Subject
- decoupling
- Threat
- Economic threat
- Topic
- Trade & tariffs
- Era
- First term
What the record showed
The day before, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had told a congressional hearing: 'Do I think that you can sit down and decouple the United States economy from the Chinese economy? No. I think that was a policy option years ago. I don't think it's a reasonable policy option at this point.' Four days after the tweet, Trump wrote that 'The China Trade Deal is fully intact.' Census Bureau figures show two-way goods trade with China rose from $557.1 billion in 2020 to $690.3 billion in 2022, and stood at $414.6 billion in 2025.