Will punish US firms producing, creating jobs in China, says Donald Trump

'If Biden wins, China will own America; if I win, I'll end manufacturing reliance'

US President Donald Trump said he intends to curb the US economic relationship with China, contrasting himself with Joe Biden by threatening to punish any American 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 US, 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 news conference where he complained at length about his Democratic re-election opponent. 

“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.” Trump has also recently entertained the idea of “decoupling” the US economy from China, a dream of US China hawks. 

“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.” “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.