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Trump Responds To China’s “Dual Circulation With Decoupling
 
Donald Trump lashed out at US companies that offshore to China, threatening to curtail federal contracts and even decouple the US economy from Beijing’s, without losses. “We lose billions of dollars, and if we didn’t do business with [China], we wouldn’t lose billions of dollars,” the president told reporters at a Monday briefing. Trump continued, without explaining what would happen to the trillion-plus dollars in US debt held by Beijing. “No country…has ripped us off like China has,” Trump lamented, complaining about the loss of “billions and billions and billions” of dollars to the US’ Asian rival. Trump raised the idea of separating the U.S. and Chinese economies, also known as decoupling, suggesting the U.S. would not lose money if the two countries no longer did business. On Friday, Reuters reported that the U.S. Department of Defense might ban American companies from providing goods and services to SMIC, China's largest chipmaker. Sources say the U.S. is probing potential ties between SMIC and the Chinese People's Liberation Army. SMIC denies all claims. Chip equipment stocks Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA were in the red after the news. From: Reporting by Jeff Mason and Chris Sanders; Editing by Howard Goller