https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-plans-to-escalate-trade-pressure-on-china-1523573253
The Trump White House, confident that its hard-line strategy is succeeding, is planning to ratchet up the pressure on China by focusing on new tariffs and threatening to block Chinese technology investment in the U.S., according to officials familiar with the strategy.
The additional moves come as President Donald Trump has told his senior aides to investigate the possibility of joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a move that would reverse a Trump campaign promise and would further challenge China.
For its part, China is looking to line up other countries against the U.S., Chinese officials said—especially in Europe, whose firms could benefit should China react to the stepped up pressure by retaliating against the U.S. Beijing has already responded to early volleys from Washington in the trade conflict with retaliatory tariffs of its own.
Administration officials familiar with the U.S. strategy say that the U.S. Trade Representative, as early as next week, will detail which products are on the list of $100 billion in Chinese goods subject to 25% import tariffs. The initial hit list of $50 billion in Chinese imports didn’t include some consumer staples such as clothing, mobile phones or shoes, to minimize consumer impact and limit domestic criticism. But trade experts say the sheer size of the expansion of the hit list makes the inclusion of consumer goods inevitable.
At the same time, the Treasury Department is crafting sharp prohibitions on Chinese investment in advanced U.S. technology, whether by acquisition, joint ventures, licensing or any other arrangement. The Treasury is targeting China’s subsidization of domestic industries to turn them into so-called technology national champions, said a senior administration official.
The administration is debating whether to make the investment restrictions permanent, even if China changes its industrial policies, the official said. The restrictions then could be used to make sure China carries out pledges and would warn other countries not to mimic Chinese behavior. Treasury is supposed to devise a plan by early June.
The actions come as administration officials argue the Chinese are already bending the U.S.’s will. They point to a speech on Tuesday by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who promised to roll out measures this year to lower tariffs on imported cars and to ease foreign ownership restrictions on auto makers in China.
“It was the most conciliatory thing we’ve heard since the whole discussion began,” said a White House official. “Up to then, it was mean, nasty, cruel name-calling.”
Submitted April 12, 2018 at 07:02PM by GloBoy54 https://ift.tt/2qsbvo6
