Trump says U.S. has option of 'decoupling' from China, contradicting his trade chief
President Donald Trump on Thursday said the U.S. has the option of "a complete decoupling from China," a day after his top trade adviser said such a move isn't a reasonable policy. "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," Trump wrote in a tweet. On Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told lawmakers that "I don't think [decoupling is] a policy or reasonable policy option at this point." Lighthizer told House lawmakers that the U.S.-China trade deal is on track. Trump's tweet came a day after excerpts of former national security adviser John Bolton's book were released, including one in which Bolton says Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to buy U.S. farm products in order to help him win agricultural states in the November election.
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