Trump moves forward with tech limits, tariffs ahead of China trade meeting

The Trump administration on Tuesday said it is going ahead with actions to crack down on Chinese trade practices by June 30.

In a press release, the White House says President Trump is planning further export controls against China to counter Chinese intellectual property theft, including tariffs on Chinese tech exports believed to contain stolen American intellectual property.

{mosads}

“To protect our national security, the United States will implement specific investment restrictions and enhanced export controls for Chinese persons and entities related to the acquisition of industrially significant technology,” the statement reads.

A 25 percent tariff will be levied on $50 billion of tech goods imported from China, and the U.S. pledges in the statement to continue litigating the issue in front of the World Trade Organization. The list of affected goods will be released by June 15, the statement says.

“The United States will continue efforts to protect domestic technology and intellectual property, stop noneconomic transfers of industrially significant technology and intellectual property to China, and enhance access to the Chinese market,” the statement continues.

“Discussions with China will continue on these topics, and the United States looks forward to resolving long-standing structural issues and expanding our exports by eliminating China’s severe import restrictions.”

The move comes just days after Trump’s trade representatives presented Chinese officials with a list of trade demands including a document asking China’s government to slash its trade deficit with the U.S. by $200 billion by the end of 2020.

Just more than a week ago, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the trade war with China was “on hold,” with Chinese state media also reporting that Washington and Beijing had agreed to back off on tariffs.

The move to announce the tariffs comes ahead of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s visit China this weekend for trade negotiations.