Trump gets tough on China ahead of new talks
WASHINGTON – President Trump is moving forward with imposing tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports, the White House said Tuesday, ending a brief cease-fire in the trade war after talks broke down this month.
The Trump administration will also move to restrict U.S. investments and the export of certain U.S. technology to China in what the White House portrayed as an effort to protect national security.
Just nine days ago, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — recently returned from unsuccessful trade talks in Beijing — declared that “we’re putting the trade war on hold.”
The moves up the ante for talks scheduled for this weekend, when Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will return to Beijing in an attempt to get trade talks back on track.
Those talks will come with the threat of new tariffs, with the White House laying out a June 15 deadline for specifying which Chinese goods — up to $50 billion worth — will be subject to a 25% tariff. The new investment restrictions and export controls — to be imposed on “industrially significant technology” — will be announced by June 30.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Trump’s actions are a step in the right direction, but “he must be strong, tough and consistent. While obviously more details are needed, this outline represents the kind of actions we have needed to take for a long time, but the president must stick with it and not bargain it away.”