U.S. President Donald Trump is reviving tactics from his 2016 campaign playbook on attacking China, but running as the incumbent means defending a record of only limited success in rewriting the economic relationship with Beijing.
Much of what the Trump team has laid out in recent weeks sounds like campaign promises made four years ago: Stopping outsourcing and bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., ending dependence on China for crucial inputs and supporting companies that make things in America.
"Under my administration, we’ll end our reliance on China once and for all,” Trump said on Monday. "And we’ll impose tariffs on companies that desert America to create jobs in China and other countries. 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.”