WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump signed an order Thursday that paves theway for imposing tariffs on as much as $60 billion worth of Chinese importsto punish Beijing for what he said is the theft of American technology andChinese pressure on US companies to hand it over.“It is the largest deficit of any country in the history of our world,”Trump said of the US-China trade imbalance, blaming it for lost Americanjobs.
He said his action would make the country stronger and richer.China has already warned that it will take “all necessary measures” todefend itself, raising the prospect of a trade war between the world’s twobiggest economies.
The White House said Thursday that Trump would direct the Office of the USTrade Representative to publish a list of proposed tariffs for publiccomment within 15 days. USTR has already identified potential targets:1,300 product lines worth about $48 billion. The president is also askingTreasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to come up with a list of restrictions onChinese investment.
Financial markets skidded Thursday on the risk of growing commercialconflict between the US and China and the possibility that China willimpose retaliatory tariffs on US products.
Dozens of industry groups sent a letter last weekend to Trump warning that“the imposition of sweeping tariffs would trigger a chain reaction ofnegative consequences for the US economy, provoking retaliation; stiflingUS agriculture, goods, and services exports, and raising costs forbusinesses and consumers.”
The administration moves on Thursday mark the end of a seven-month USinvestigation into the hardball tactics China has used to challenge USsupremacy in technology, including, the US says, dispatching hackers tosteal commercial secrets and demanding that US companies hand over tradesecrets in exchange for access to the Chinese market. The administrationargues that years of negotiations with China have failed to produceresults. Agencies