U.S efforts to decouple from China are hurting American businesses

• Decoupling with China has put US businesses at a disadvantage and Washington should pursue “self-interested coordination” when dealing with Beijing.
• China and the United States are in a headlong descent from a competitive but sometimes cooperative relationship to one that is confrontational in nearly every respect.
• Henry Paulson, who formerly headed the Treasury under George W. Bush between 2006 and 2009, warned that the decoupling strategy would not work since even Washington’s closest allies aren’t following its lead.
• Over the long term, the strategy of decoupling is likely to hurt Americans more than Chinese people.
• US allies and partners have made no secret of their desire not to isolate or contain Beijing as China overtook the US as the top trading partner of the European Union in 2020 and the trend is more pronounced in Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia.
• Washington risks pushing against economic gravity as the leaders of US allies such as Germany, France, Italy and the Philippines have planned or already made trips to Beijing.
• Washington needs to be tough-minded but fair, open to dialogue but not for its own sake, and prepared for a tough, long slog in pursuing self-interested coordination with China. Areas such as the global economy, the fight against terrorism and climate change and nuclear proliferation as areas for such cooperation.

External Link : https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3208631/us-efforts-decouple-china-are-hurting-american-businesses-warns-ex-treasury-chief-henry-paulson?module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article&campaign=3208631