US President Donald Trump said that he intends to curb the US economic relationship with China, contrasting himself with former US vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, by threatening to punish any US companies that create jobs overseas and to forbid those that do business in China from winning federal contracts.
“We’ll manufacture our critical manufacturing supplies in the United States, we’ll create ‘made in America’ tax credits and bring our jobs back to the United States, and we’ll impose tariffs on companies that desert America to create jobs in China and other countries,” Trump said at a White House Labor Day news conference, where he complained at length about Biden.
“If they can’t do it here, then let them pay a big tax to build it someplace else and send it into our country,” he said of US corporations. “We’ll prohibit federal contracts from companies that outsource to China and we’ll hold China accountable for allowing the virus to spread around the world.”
Photo: Bloomberg
Trump has recently entertained the idea of “decoupling” the US economy from China, a dream of the US’ China hawks.
“So when you mention the word decouple, it’s an interesting word,” Trump said. “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.”
“Whether it’s decoupling or putting massive tariffs on China which I’ve been doing already,” he said. “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.”
Trump did not say when he would implement the policies, but framed the moves as part of a second-term agenda.
“If Biden wins, China wins because China will own this country,” Trump said. “It’s the most important election in our history, right now, most important election in our history. Under my administration we will make America into the manufacturing superpower of the world and we’ll end our reliance on China once and for all.”
Biden has turned the argument against the president, accusing Trump of being soft on China to secure a so-called “phase one” trade deal in January and only toughening his posture after his administration lost control of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He has said the trade deal is “unenforceable,” and “full of vague, weak, and recycled commitments from Beijing.”
Analysts have said that the two countries’ economies are so intertwined as to make decoupling impractical.
Additional reporting by Reuters
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS