Trump boosts China tariffs by $200B

Latest round could force U.S. companies to scramble to find new suppliers

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will impose tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese goods starting next week, escalating a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies and potentially raising prices on a wide range of goods.

The tariffs will start at 10 percent, beginning Monday, then riseto25percentjan.1.

President Donald Trump made the announcement Monday in a move that is sure to ratchet up hostilities between Washington and Beijing. Trump had already imposed 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods. China has retaliated, hitting American soybeans, among other goods, in a shot at the president’s supporters in the U.S. farm belt.

Beijing has warned that it would hit an additional $60 billion in American goods if Trump ordered more tariffs. Trump threatened Monday that if China does retaliate, he will add a further $267 billion in Chinese imports to the target list. That would raise the

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the total to $517 billion — covering nearly everything China sells the United States.

After a public-comment period, the administration said Monday that it had withdrawn some items from its preliminary list of $200 billion in Chinese imports to be taxed, including child-safety products like bicycle helmets. And in a victory for Apple Inc. and its American customers, the administration removed smartwatches and some other consumer electronics products from the list of goods to be targeted by the new tariffs.

At the same time, the administration said it remains open to negotiations with China.

“China has had many opportunities to fully address our concerns,” Trump said in a statement. “I urge China’s leaders to take swift action to end their country’s unfair trade practices.”

The two countries are fighting over Beijing’s ambitions to supplant American technological supremacy. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has charged that China is using predatory tactics to obtain foreign technology. These tactics include hacking U.S. companies to steal their trade secrets and forcing them to turn over their know-how in exchange for access to the Chinese market.

Trump has also complained about America’s gaping trade deficit —

$336 billion last year — with China, its biggest trading partner.

In the first two rounds of tariffs, the Trump administration took care to try to spare American consumers from the direct impact of the import taxes. The tariffs focused on industrial products, not on things Americans buy at the mall or via Amazon.

By expanding the list to $200 billion of Chinese imports, Trump risks spreading the pain to ordinary households. The administration is targeting a variety of products — sockeye salmon, baseball gloves, bamboo mats — forcing U.S. companies to scramble for suppliers outside China, absorb the import taxes or pass along costs to their customers. ON EDUCATION