Trump growing frustrated with China, weighs trade steps -officials

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with China over its inaction on North Korea and bilateral trade issues and is now considering possible trade actions against Beijing, three senior administration officials told Reuters.

The officials said Trump was looking at options including tariffs on steel imports, which Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross already has said he is considering as part of a national security study of the U.S. steel industry.

Whether Trump would take any steps against China remains unclear.

In April, he backed off from a threat to withdraw from NAFTA after he said Canadian and Mexican leaders telephoned him asking him to halt a planned executive order in favor of opening discussions.

The officials said there was no consensus on the way forward with China and they did not say what other options were being studied.

No decision was expected this week, a senior official said.

Chinese steel already is subject to dozens of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy orders. As a result it has only a small share of the U.S. market.

“What’s guiding this is he ran to protect American industry and American workers,” one of the U.S. officials said, referring to Trump’s 2016 election promise to take a hard line on trade with China.

On North Korea, Trump “feels like he gave China a chance to make a difference” but has not seen enough results, the official said.

The United States has pressed China to exert more economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to help rein in its nuclear and missile programs. Beijing has repeatedly said its influence on North Korea is limited and that it is doing all it can.

“They did a little, not a lot,” the official said. “And if he’s not going to get what he needs on that, he needs to move ahead on his broader agenda on trade and on North Korea.”

U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad, who arrived in Beijing yesterday, spoke to dozens of reporters outside his residence on Wednesday and said the U.S. hopes to collaborate with China.