President Trump on Thursday will announce his plans to crack down on China with what could possibly be billions in tariffs and restrictions on investment, a move that could set off a trade war.<\/b>
\nPresident Trump on Thursday will\u00a0announce plans to crack down on China with what could possibly be billions in tariffs and restrictions on investment, a move\u00a0some fear could set off a trade war.
Although specific details of the Trump administration\u2019s plan are still unknown, there have been media reports that the president may decide to apply tariffs between $30 billion and $50 billion on Chinese imports in response to Beijing\u2019s wide-ranging, lax policies on intellectual property.
\u00ab\u00a0Tomorrow the president will announce the actions he has decided to take based on USTR\u2019s [United States trade representative] 301 investigation into China\u2019s state-led, market-distorting efforts to force, pressure, and steal U. S. technologies and intellectual property,\u201d White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said on Wednesday.
The president may target more than 100 products from China that the administration has found to be the the result of stealing U. S. intellectual property, according to reports.
Trump has\u00a0pledged tough action on China since his presidential campaign.
Beijing\u00a0has threatened retaliation, mostly against U. S. agriculture, if Trump follows through on his promise.
U. S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who Trump asked last year to start investigating China\u2019s intellectual property violations, told the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday that \u00ab\u00a0we have a very serious problem of losing our intellectual property, which is really the biggest single advantage of the American economy.\u00a0\u00bb
In a call with reporters earlier on Wednesday, an official with the U. S. trade representative\u2019s office, which led the investigation, said they couldn\u2019t provide any details because the decision is up to the president.
The official said the Trump administration has pursued a dialogue with China\u2019s top government officials, including President Xi Jinping, but deep concerns remain about Beijing\u2019s unwillingness to change its\u00a0trade practices.
\u201cThe administration is not satisfied with the type of responses it’s getting from China,\u201d the official said.
The investigation found that China puts pressure on U. S. companies to transfer their technology to Chinese business under foreign ownership restrictions.
USTR also found that U. S. firms aren’t provided the same ability to license intellectual property as Chinese companies and that China has conducted cyberattacks to steal trade secrets, the official said.
Many agree\u00a0that China has a persistent streak of unfair trade practices\u00a0targeting U. S. intellectual property.
Trade experts have said Trump\u2019s steep tariffs on steel and aluminum, which go into effect on Friday, missed the mark in punishing China because their imports only represent about 2 percent of all steel coming into the U. S.
In past phone conversations with Xi, Trump has expressed disappointment over the growing size of the U. S. trade deficit with China, which was $375.2 billion last year.
Trump has told the Chinese president that the deficit is not sustainable.
Under the rarely used Section 301\u00a0of the trade law, the president has the power to take unilateral action to retaliate against China over its trade practices.
Concern over what Trump will do on China has raised concerns among a diverse range of business groups that say their products made in China will be caught in the net of tariffs and will lead to higher prices for consumers on everything from shoes to electronics.
U. S. businesses and allies argue that the actions must be more strategic and targeted to solve the issue and ensure American consumers and the economy aren’t harmed in the process.
In response, business groups have sent a\u00a0flurry of letters to Trump asking him to either curtail or kill the tariff plans.<\/p>\n