Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Friday that the Trump administration is trying to strike a trade deal with China that would allow the administration to enact “automatic” tariffs as an enforcement mechanism if China violated its terms.
Getting the enforcement provision included would be the most “contentious” part of the talks, Ross said.
“We need the ability to take unilateral action that punishes them, whether it’s big tariffs or quotas or whatever we do,” Ross said during an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md. “We have to have an automatic ability to do something about it. You’d be amazed how much having unilateral ability to mete out punishment affects behavior.”
President Trump has announced that he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, later this month for one-on-one talks. On Sunday, the president announced that he would hold off on a tariff hike on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, citing progress in the negotiations with Beijing.
However, White House officials have previously indicated that the administration may seek enforcement provisions in any deal that would allow tariffs to return. Ross’ comments indicate that such an approach is now a focus of the current talks with Beijing.
Ross said that such terms were needed to ensure that China abides by its commitments to the deal. Regular meetings among lower-level officials of both countries would be needed to monitor the deal along with more periodic ones between higher level officials.
