President Trump reportedly is planning on instituting tariffs on $200 billion of goods from China next week, dramatically escalating the ongoing trade dispute.
Trump has told aides that he intends to go through with the tariffs next week once public comment on the proposal is concluded, Bloomberg reported, citing several anonymous sources within the administration. That would set the total amount of tariffs that the Trump administration has hit China with at $250 billion.
The public comment period for the proposed tariffs concluded Monday. Sept. 6 is the deadline for post-hearing rebuttal comments.
[Also read: ‘Point of no return’ draws closer in U.S.-China trade standoff]
The announcement sent stocks falling, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping by more than 100 points, before rebounding slightly.
Representatives for the White House and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Trump administration officially slapped 25 percent tariffs on an additional $16 billion in Chinese goods Thursday, bringing the total amount of items facing such levies at $50 billion. The administration is also planning on adding $200 billion more in goods to that list. The U.S. has also imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum ones, policies primarily directed at China. Beijing has responded by placing tariffs of between 5 and 25 percent on $60 billion worth of U.S goods. Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun has said that his country planned additional responses.
Public comments hearings on the $200 billion began last week and continued through Monday. The hearings are required to as part of the process to institute the tariffs. Administrations typically take to sift through them and adjust proposals. Making a recommendation that gets rejected or overlooked can provide standing to sue the government regarding the policy. The Trump White House has evidently decided to move ahead regardless.
[More: Trump says China wants trade deal, but it’s ‘not the right time’]
