Trump vows to 'permanently' end America's reliance on Chinese manufacturing

US President Donald Trump on Friday said he will fully end the country's reliance on China if elected president again.

"We'll fully restore America's manufacturing independence, bring home our critical supply chains and permanently end our reliance on China," Trump said during remarks at the 2020 Council for National Policy meeting in Washington.

During his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention on Thursday, Joe Biden said if elected president he would ensure that US supply chains no longer rely on China and other foreign countries. Trump and Biden have often sparred on the campaign trail over who would have a firmer policy towards Beijing.

The United States and China signed a trade agreement in January after an extended tariff war between the two countries. Under the agreement, Beijing committed to expanding between this year and next to its purchase of certain US goods and services by a combined $200 billion from 2017 levels.

However, soon after the deal was signed, the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions making it difficult for Washington to enforce the deal on Beijing, although the Trump administration insists that Chinese purchases are on track. In June, the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics reported that China had only purchased some $40 billion of the $173 billion of US purchases committed for 2020.

The relations between the United States and China have significantly deteriorated under the current Trump administration following accusations Beijing engaged in unfair trade practices and made a poor effort to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. In June, US President Donald Trump signed into law the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act that allows the US government to impose sanctions over alleged human rights violations of the Muslim Uyghur minority in China. China's foreign ministry has repeatedly refuted the accusations.