WASHINGTON: Conflicting talk from Trump administration officials about"decoupling" the U.S. economy from China is running into challenging reality: Chinese imports of U.S. goods are rising, investment by American companies into China continues, and markets are wary of separating the world's biggest economies.
The damage-control efforts by the Trump administration come after Trump said last week that"a complete decoupling from China" was an option, overruling U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who had told lawmakers that decoupling was not realistic. U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed that soybean exports to China rose to 423,891 metric tons in April, more than doubling the 208,505 tonnes imported in March.
A person familiar with both U.S. and Chinese thinking on the trade deal said that Navarro's comments appeared to be a"slip of the tongue," reflecting his personal hawkish views on China and not administration policy.