Big Tech urges Trump to stop using China tariffs for leverage on trade

Silicon Valley wants President Trump to drop the tariffs he’s using as leverage in talks aimed at ending China’s theft of U.S. trade secrets.

The duties, which already cover $250 billion in Chinese goods, have done more than simply drain away cash that might otherwise have been spent on developing new technologies. They have prompted retaliation from Beijing that hurt sales of American products in the world’s second-largest economy and undermined the economic benefits of 2017’s GOP-led tax cuts in the U.S.