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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said on Friday he was ordering U.S. companies to look at ways to close their operations in China and make more of their products in the United States instead, a rhetorical strike at Beijing as trade tensions mounted.

Trump cannot compel U.S. companies to abandon China and he gave no detail on how he might proceed with any such order, although he said he would be offering a response later on Friday to tariffs on U.S. products announced by China earlier in the day.

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“Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA,” Trump said on Twitter. “We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them.” (Reporting by Makini Brice and David Shepardson; Editing by Tim Ahmann)