Eager to force hand of China, Trump aims anew at tariffs

WASHINGTON >> President Donald Trump, emboldened by a strong American economy and wary of criticism that an evolving trade deal with China would not adequately benefit the United States, threatened Sunday to impose more punishing tariffs on Chinese goods in an attempt to force additional concessions in a final agreement.

Trump, in a tweet, warned that he would increase tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods at the end of this week and “shortly” impose levies on hundreds of billions of dollars of additional imports. Dozens of high-level Chinese officials are arriving in Washington this week for what was expected to be a final round of negotiations toward a trade agreement, at least in principle.

It was a familiar pattern for Trump, who has routinely turned to tariffs to help speed negotiations and win concessions from America’s trading partners. The president has already hit Mexico, Canada, Europe and Japan with steel and aluminum tariffs and threatened to impose auto tariffs if they do not acquiesce to demands on trade and other matters.

Trump has already imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and is now threatening to tax nearly all of the products China exports to America.

But it remains to be seen whether Trump’s threat will produce a beneficial trade agreement for the United States — or whether his attempts to pressure China will backfire by pushing already-tense relations past the breaking point.

While the United States believes it has leverage over China, huge swaths of the U.S. economy depend on access to the Chinese market for materials, products and sales.

Eswar Prasad, a trade economist and the former head of the China division for the International Monetary Fund, said the tweets had “probably blindsided the Chinese who thought a deal was in the making.”

“Trump’s new threats up the ante and could force China’s hand to reach a deal, but it is equally possible that the threats make the Chinese reluctant to be seen as cravenly caving in under duress to U.S. demands,” Prasad said.

The White House has said top officials from both sides plan to meet Wednesday.