In 2020, Donald Trump made a speech where he announced plans to decouple the US' economy from China's, leading to a media outburst and a half-hearted response from the EU. 4 years later, Trump is back in power and the question of decoupling is back on the table, but the real question here is: is decoupling even possible?
In part 1 (of 2? 3?) we take a look at the primary sector of the global economy to see just what decoupling would actually take and how much of a stake China has the in the extraction of raw materials used around the world. As we look at different industries, from forestry to mining, we discover that un-linking or even stepping back from China is not as easy as it may seem.