Trump renews threat to cut ties with China

President Donald Trump renewed his threat to cut ties with China on Thursday. It came a day after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Congress that he did not see decoupling the U.S. and Chinese economies as a possible option.

The world's two largest economies have been at loggerheads over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. During a White House roundtable with governors on reopening the U.S. economy, Trump referred to China as "buying a lot" from the U.S. as part of the Phase 1 China trade deal.

Trump's former national security adviser, John Bolton, accuses the Republican president of full misdeeds, including clearly seeking Chinese President Xi Jinping's aid to win re-election in November. Among Bolton's allegation was that Trump asked his Chinese counterpart, President Xi, for help in the 2020 U.S. election by making agricultural purchases from U.S. farmers.