Days before he is set to meet with China’s president to talk about trade, President Trump said he is likely to go ahead with placing tariffs on an additional $267 billion in Chinese goods.
“If we don’t make a deal, then I’m going to put the $267 billion additional on,” Trump told the Wall Street Journal in an interview Monday. He said he hadn’t decided whether those tariffs would be 10 or 25 percent. “I mean, I can make it 10 percent, and people could stand that very easily.”
Trump said he was intent on driving the hardest bargain possible with China. “The only deal would be China has to open up their country to competition from the United States,” he said, reiterating that his ultimate goal was to force companies to “build factories in the United States and to make the product here.”
President Trump is set to talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G-20 Summit in Argentina later this week. The administration has previously expressed optimism about the meeting, with Trump saying earlier this month that the additional tariffs may not be needed.
But the administration has hardened its stance ahead of the meeting. Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said China has not altered predatory trade practices that coerce U.S. companies into handing over technology. The administration has cited such practices to justify the tariffs.
Trump also said Monday that he is likely to go ahead with boosting existing tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent across the board, up from 10 percent in most cases.
