White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday that the administration would make an announcement later in the afternoon regarding proposed tariffs the administration would place on China. The administration has reportedly been considering hit China with tariffs of up 25 percent on $200 billion in imported goods, up from an earlier proposal of 10 percent.
“The bottom line is the president is going to continue to hold China responsible for their unfair trade practices. This has gone on long enough and he is going to do something about it,” Sanders said in previewing the announcement.
The U.S. has imposed broad-based tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum ones, policies primarily directed at China. The White House has placed 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion of goods specifically from China, and has released a list of $200 billion in Chinese goods it plans to hit with additional tariffs. Those covering the $200 billion were originally proposed to be just 10 percent, but, according to some reports by the Wall Street Journal and others, administration officials have decided to set the rates even higher in order to force China to go to the negotiating table.
In retaliation for the administration’s policies, China has established 5 to 25 percent additional duties on $3 billion in U.S. imports and threatened further actions.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said last week that the White House did not expect to resolve its ongoing trade disputes with China in the foreseeable future, indicating that the tariffs against country and its retaliatory ones against the U.S. could last for a while.
“China is going to be a longer-term problem. That isn’t to say we are going to be in a trade war with China in my judgment,” Lighthizer told the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday.
