White House files notice to raise tariffs on China

The White House on Wednesday filed formal notice of President Trump’s increase to tariffs on Chinese imports amid a breakdown in trade negotiations.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) submitted an order raising tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports after Trump announced the increase Sunday morning.

Trump said in a pair of tweets Sunday that he would raise tariffs on a wide variety of Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent. USTR’s notice to formalize those increases will be published in the Federal Register on Thursday and take effect Friday morning at 12:01 a.m. 

{mosads}The filing comes after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer confirmed the pending tariff increase Monday, blaming China for backing away from previous agreements with the administration.

China’s Commerce Ministry reportedly said Wednesday that it will respond “in kind” if Trump follows through on the tariff hikes.

Trump’s decision to raise tariffs on Chinese goods was a stunning break from months of optimistic statements from the White House. The president and his top aides have said for months that they were close to striking a trade agreement with China after a year of tensions and reciprocal tariffs.

Top Trump administration officials and Chinese counterparts shuttled between Washington and Beijing throughout the first part of 2019 with hopes of finalizing a deal.

But Trump on Sunday ripped Beijing for backtracking on the talks, saying Chinese officials are “attempting to renegotiate” aspects of the pending agreement.

“The United States has been losing, for many years, 600 to 800 Billion Dollars a year on Trade,” Trump added Monday, referring to the U.S. trade deficit with China. “Sorry, we’re not going to be doing that anymore!”

Lighthizer told reporters Monday that “we felt we were on track to get somewhere,” but “over the course of last week we have seen an erosion of commitments by China.”