Donald Trump raised the possibility of “decoupling” the US economy from China and claimed that America was experiencing the “fastest recovery in US history”, and he sharpened his economic message as the presidential campaign came to an end.

Trump, who has made China the focus of his 2016 campaign, outlined a tougher line on trade with Beijing at a press conference in front of the White House over the Labor Day holiday, with less than two months left before the election. November 3.

Trump said the word “disengagement” – which economists used a decade ago to denote the possibility of a permanent decline in trade between the two countries – was “an interesting word.”

If we don’t deal with [China]Trump said on Monday, “We will not lose billions of dollars.” “It’s called separation. So you will start to think about it. You will start to think that they are taking our money and spending it on building aircraft, building ships, building missiles and missiles.”

The president also threatened to prevent companies that outsource jobs to China from receiving federal contracts, and pledged – as he did during the 2016 campaign – to return important manufacturing and supply chain jobs to the United States.

He said, “We will make America a great manufacturing power in the world and end our dependence on China once and for all.” “Whether it is about the separation or imposing huge tariffs like I already did, we will end our dependence on China, because we cannot depend on China.”

The president promised to take a tough stance on trade with China during the 2016 campaign and struck a “phase one” limited trade deal earlier this year. But the trade deficit With China it has remained stubbornly high. Data released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed that the US trade deficit with the Asian country increased by $ 1.6 billion to $ 28.3 billion in July.

Trump said that the United States will hold China responsible for the devastation caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 181,000 people in the United States. In recent months, his administration has undertaken Target In Beijing on a range of issues, from pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong and alleged violations of Uighurs in Xinjiang to accounting standards for Chinese companies listed in the United States.

The president described his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, as a “pawn” of Beijing, saying that the former vice president “will hand over our jobs to China, our jobs and our economic well-being.”

Mr Trump and Mike Pence, his deputy, used the Labor Day holiday to get away from the focus of their campaign on imposing.Law and order“The crackdown on rights protesters to deliver an economic message: The virus will soon be contained, and the economy is starting to recover.

“The United States experienced the least deflation of any major Western country,” Trump said. “Our rise is staggering and we are recovering much more quickly from the epidemic.”

In the United States, gross domestic product fell 9.5 percent in the second quarter. This is better than Germany or the UK, however Worse than South Korea or JapanThe economy slowed by 7.8 percent during the same period. Mr. Trump also referred to a file Encouraging Jobs Report From Friday, which showed unemployment at 8.4 per cent.

The United States regained about half of the 22.2 million jobs it lost in March and April, amid widespread closures.

“We’ve had a testing period,” said Pence, speaking to about 250 workers and guests at the Dairyland Power Cooperative in La Crosse, Wisconsin. “We shall soon come to a time of selection.”

In the Trump era, he added, “the era of economic capitulation is over.”

Biden and fellow Democrat, Kamala Harris, also made trips to battle states on Monday. Biden traveled to Pennsylvania, where he met union leaders. Mrs. Harris was in Wisconsin to visit with family members Jacob Blake, A black man shot by a police officer in an accident that has added fuel to anti-racism protests across the United States.