U.S. to step up pressure on China
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is planning a series of actions this week targeting China’s trade, cyber and economic policies, bringing together the work of a handful of federal agencies as part of a longer-term strategy to keep pressure on Beijing, according to senior administration officials.
The moves, which have been contemplated for months and are expected to be announced as early as Wednesday, stem from a growing concern within the administration that China will not easily change its practices — including what it says is a pattern of hacking into U.S. companies and throwing up trade barriers to U.S. goods. The action was coordinated by Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, and several other administration officials, who have grown frustrated with Beijing’s vague promises to make sweeping changes to its treatment of U.S. intellectual property and technology transfer, and as-yet unfulfilled commitments to substantially increase purchases of U.S. goods.
The Justice Department is preparing to announce the indictments of several hackers that the United States believes worked for the Chinese government and have targeted U.S. companies for years, according to a government official briefed on the plan. Other actions this week could include new Commerce Department rules on imported Chinese semiconductors, and a possible revival of a long-shelved executive order intended to make it harder for Chinese companies to obtain telecommunications components, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the plans said.
While the two sides have reached a 90-day trade truce, administration officials want to keep up a sustained campaign of pressure to ensure that Beijing lives up to the commitments that President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping of China agreed to during a dinner in Buenos Aires this month.
Administration officials believe that they have the upper hand and can leverage tariffs and other punishments to eke out changes from Beijing.
Trade negotiators on both sides of the Pacific have been working on an agreement that would involve a commitment by China to increase purchases of U.S. goods and services by $1.2 trillion over the next several years. On Tuesday, Trump said that the United States and China were having “very productive conversations” as top American and Chinese officials held their first talks since the two countries agreed to the trade truce on Dec. 1.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry announced that Liu He, China’s economic czar, took part in a telephone call with Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and Lighthizer to discuss plans for future meetings to hammer out a finalized trade pact. Officials from Beijing are expected to travel to Washington early next year to continue discussions as the two sides try to reach an agreement ahead of the March 1 deadline.