White House trade adviser Peter Navarro drafted an executive order slapping tariffs on every product imported into the U.S. by countries conducting significant business with North Korea, according to a report.
The broad executive order, compiled last fall, would have affected U.S. trade relations with China, India, Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Ukraine, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Hong Kong, Brazil, and Turkey, per an Axios report Sunday.
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The duty taxes, proposed when the Trump administration was exploring ways to exert maximum pressure on North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, could have reached 45 percent, the news outlet reported. However, officials from the Commerce, State, and Treasury Departments, as well as the Office of the United States Trade Representative disliked Navarro’s suggestion.
“We don’t comment or give credence to allegedly leaked draft documents especially those that are purported to be almost a year old,” White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters told Axios when asked for comment.
China on Friday announced plans to impose retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods, escalating the ongoing trade war and souring the U.S.-China relationship, which was billed as being crucial to negotiations regarding the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
[More: Is Trump’s trade war with China hurting denuclearization?]
