President Trump told several top administration officials to proceed with new tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods on Thursday, according to a news report, despite his treasury secretary’s overtures to Chinese officials to negotiate over trade.
No announcement was made by the White House, however, and it is unclear when the tariffs might be put in place.
Financial markets were roiled Friday by a Bloomberg report that Trump had told aides to move forward with the tariffs. The same story, however, reported that an announcement of the new tariffs has been delayed to revise aspects of them.
The administration recently concluded weeks of public comments on the proposed tariffs. Previous reports have said that Trump is eager to complete the process and institute the tariffs.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin recently sent a letter to China’s Vice Premier Liu He proposing bilateral talks in the coming weeks. The letter did not specify the time or place. It was not know what, if any response, Beijing has made.
In addition to the $200 billion that could be announced soon, the Trump administration has previously placed 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in worth of Chinese goods. President Trump has proposed additional tariffs of between $200-$267 billion, a move that could push the total tariffs to more than half a trillion in goods. The administration has also enacted 25 percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum ones, both policies mainly directed at China.
Beijing has hit back by placing tariffs of between 5 and 25 percent on $60 billion worth of U.S goods and has warned of additional responses.
China sent negotiators two weeks ago to Washington in attempt to resolve the stand-off but the talks yielded no results.
An administration official could not be reached for comment.
