Top aide: China must end ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ to stop trade war

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Sunday identified what he called the “seven deadly sins” that  China must stop doing before the ongoing trade war with the U.S. will come to an end.

“Stop stealing our intellectual property, stop forcing technology transfers, stop hacking our computers, stop dumping into our markets and putting our companies out of business, stop state-owned enterprises from heavy subsidies, stop the [importation of] fentanyl [and] stop the currency manipulation,” Navarro told host Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”

{mosads}Wallace and Navarro briefly sparred over the extent to which tariffs on China will affect U.S. consumers. President Trump and his economic advisors have repeatedly characterized the tariffs as a “tax on China,” despite economists’ claims that the costs trickle down to consumers.

The list of Chinese misconduct, Navarro said, were “all structural changes,” and “the question is how much as a consumer would you be willing to pay to have that stop.”

“The point is you’re saying I don’t have to pay anything,” Wallace countered.

Navarro argued the tariffs have yet to directly affect Americans because “China has strategically gamed the tariffs by slashing their prices and devaluing their currency.”

He conceded, however, that “we have a bigger question” about whether tariffs in general trickle down to consumers.