The Trump administration thinks its trade threats against China are working — and plans to focus on new tariffs and possible blocks to Chinese technology investment in the United States, The Wall Street Journal reported.
According to the Journal, which cites unnamed sources, the U.S. Trade Representative could next week detail which products are on a hit list of $100 billion in Chinese goods subject to 25 percent import tariffs.
The initial list of $50 billion in Chinese imports did not include some consumer staples such as clothing, mobile phones or shoes; the expanded list makes the inclusion of consumer goods inevitable, the Journal reported.
At the same time, the Treasury Department is working up bans on Chinese investment in advanced U.S. technology — targeting China's subsidization of domestic industries to turn them into so-called technology national champions, the Journal reported.
The actions come in the wake of Chinese President Xi Jinping's promise Tuesday to roll out measures to lower tariffs on imported cars and to ease foreign ownership restrictions on auto makers in China.
"It was the most conciliatory thing we've heard since the whole discussion began," an unnamed White House official told the Journal. "Up to then, it was mean, nasty, cruel name-calling."
"China basically surrendered [with the Xi speech], and he [Trump] is probably going to put even more pressure on them before he accepts whatever their bottom line becomes," another unnamed source told the Journal.
Meanwhile, to limit domestic opposition to its hard-line, the administration now is working on a program, which could cost billions of dollars, to compensate farmers suffering from Chinese retaliatory tariffs on U.S. crops, the Journal reported.
Trump also said he would consider joining a reconstituted Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade group of 11 Pacific Rim nations, including Japan, which could give the U.S. additional leverage in any talks with China.
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