On eve of summit with China, U.S. considers sanctions over cyberattacks.
WASHINGTON — As it prepares for a visit Friday by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the Obama administration is weighing how to punish China for cyberattacks against U.S. government and private-sector computers and networks while not provoking retaliation that could harm U.S. companies.
President Obama is signaling that sanctions are one option. “We are preparing a number of measures that will indicate to the Chinese that this is not just a matter of us being mildly upset,” he said earlier this month.
But imposing sanctions on the world’s second-largest economy is neither easy nor without risk. And the consideration of sanctions has taken a different course than actions against another big power, Russia, which saw protracted consultation with U.S. industry.
Broad action against the Chinese government risks sparking retaliation, with economic effects that could spill over into global trade and perhaps be felt in trade-driven Pacific Coast states such as California and Washington.
White House officials confirmed Tuesday evening that there will be no sanctions before the Friday meetings, but they left the door open for action after Xi’s trip if there is no progress made.
“Candidly, (cybertheft) is an issue where we have not made the progress we have wanted to make,” said Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes.
In Seattle on Tuesday, Xi denied that China promotes the theft of proprietary information from U.S. companies.
But he supported the idea of a “high-level dialogue mechanism” of the kind the Obama administration seeks.
Trade associations that work closely with the administration on sanctions issues said they hadn’t been asked for their views.
“They have not asked, which makes me think that this is more in the ‘shot across the bow’ camp than it is in the ‘let’s hit them three different ways tomorrow’ camp,” said William Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a lobby for multinational companies.