'Certainly does maintain policy option': Trump mulls decoupling of US economy from China

In a new development which if implemented could worsen the relations between the United States and China, US President Donald Trump has said that his administration has been thinking about decoupling the US economy from China. Decoupling in economic terms with respect to two countries refers to disconnecting the economic ties and dependence on the other country's economy or the supply chain leading to a major realignment in one's own economy.

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Trump mulls on decoupling the US economy from China

Trump's tweet comes as an explanation after US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that he didn't think a full decoupling was possible, though he favoured moves to bring supply chains back to the United States.

"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 policy, a reasonable policy option at this point," he said in response to a question from Representative Darin LaHood.

This has come up in view of the increasingly worsening US-China relationship which started from the trade war between the two countries, followed by the hunt for key supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic besides the reports of Chinese students living in the US and acting as Chinese spies.  All these factors have led to relooking at the foreign policy of the US and pondering over the idea of reducing dependence on foreign suppliers for certain products.

Also in the field of telecommunication, a question has arisen that parts manufactured in Chinese giant Huawei could give China a backdoor into US communications if they were used in key infrastructures, such as building 5G networks 

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