National security adviser John Bolton suggested Tuesday that the White House could seek to bar any imports from China that employ stolen intellectual property from American businesses.
“It’s an idea that should be considered. We may have some authority in that area already, we may need some legislation,” he told attendees at a Wall Street Journal conference.
His announcement came just days after President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached a 90-day trade truce. The agreement will delay both the imposition of tariffs on an additional $267 billion in Chinese products, and the escalation of existing tariffs on $200 billion in goods from the country.
As part of the deal, China will also purchase a substantial amount of agricultural, energy, and industrial products from the U.S., the White House said in a statement. But there is confusion over other aspects of the deal, particularly whether China will remove the additional 25 percent tariff on U.S. auto imports imposed earlier this year as the trade skirmish between the two countries heated up.
While Trump announced the action on Sunday, China has yet to confirm and White House officials haven’t outlined whether the tariffs will go to zero or to 15 percent, in-line with what China levies on other countries.
When asked on Tuesday, Bolton side-stepped answering directly.
“We don’t see the American future being a third world county supplying natural resources and agriculture products to China. We need to see some major changes to their behavior,” he said. “We have to look at other things we might do.”
