Then came the   coronavirus, an epidemic whose economic impact is ricocheting around the world like a pinball — with China as the drain.

Leader Xi Jinping may have   signaled victory over the virus, but things are still far from normal here. Factories in the “manufacturing hub of the world” are struggling to get up to full speed. Supply chains have been severely disrupted because parts are not being made, and transportation networks have ground to a halt.

Consumer demand inside China has plummeted, and international demand for Chinese products could soon follow as the virus spreads across Chinese markets as diverse as Italy, Iran and the United States.

Together, all this raises the prospect that the coronavirus epidemic will do what the trade war did not: prompt American companies to lessen their reliance on China.

“Everybody was thrashing around about decoupling before this happened, trying to decide: ‘Should we decouple? How much should we decouple? Is decoupling even possible?” said Shehzad H. Qazi, the managing director of  China Beige Book , a publication that collects data on the country’s opaque economy.

“And then suddenly we had this almost divine intervention of the virus, and everything just started to be decoupled,” he said. “That is not only going to change the entire structure of things within China, but also the global fabric connecting China to the rest of the world.”

Trump’s hawkish advisers are clearly trying to capitalize on this moment. “On the supply chain issue, for the American people they need to understand that in crises like this we have no allies,” Peter Navarro said on  Fox Business in February.

American companies big and small have warned of the virus’s impact on its production facilities. Coca Cola hasn’t been able to get  artificial sweeteners for its diet sodas. Procter & Gamble — whose brands include Pampers, Tide and Pepto-Bismol —  has also said its 387 suppliers in China have faced challenges in resuming operations.