WASHINGTON — President Trump is set to announce about $50 billion of tariffs against China over intellectual-property violations on Thursday, according a person familiar with the matter.
The president is considering targeting more than 100 different types of Chinese goods, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The value of the tariffs was based on US estimates of economic damage caused by intellectual-property theft by China, the person said.
“Tomorrow the president will announce the actions he has decided to take based on USTR’s 301 investigation into China’s state-led, market-distorting efforts to force, pressure, and steal US technologies and intellectual property,’’ White House spokesman Raj Shah said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday.
Trump instructed US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last year to investigate allegations that China steals US intellectual property and forces American companies to transfer their technological know-how to Chinese firms as a condition of doing business in the Asian country.
Lighthizer confirmed Wednesday that the administration is considering both tariffs and curbs on Chinese investment, among other options. US companies from Walmart Inc. to Amazon.com Inc. have warned that sweeping sanctions against China could raise consumer prices and hit the stock market.
China is preparing to hit back at Trump’s planned sweeping tariffs with levies aimed at industries and states which tend to employ his supporters, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
Sweeping US tariffs will test the resolve of Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose government has so far reacted in a measured fashion to Trump’s repeated complaints about the United States’ record $375 billion deficit with China. The country’s foreign minister said earlier this month, in response to Trump’s decision to impose steel and aluminum tariffs, that China would have a “justified and necessary response’’ to any efforts to incite a trade war.
The Trump administration indicated it could delay imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on some nations while negotiations are taking place for a more permanent exemption, Lighthizer said.
His office is discussing exemptions at the request of the European Union, Australia, and Argentina, and similar talks are expected with a “great number’’ of other nations including Brazil, Lighthizer said during a briefing to the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday. The goal is to wrap up the talks over exemptions by the end of April, Lighthizer said.
“I believe that countries will get out as we come to agreement, that some countries will be in a position where the duties will not apply to them in the course of the negotiation,’’ he said. “For example Canada and Mexico, but others. So you don’t have a situation where you have the status quo, 25 percent tariff, and then they get out and there’s kind of bump and it changes real commercial relationships.’’
However, Lighthizer later added that this is the approach to country exclusions he’s considering, and that tariffs may start as scheduled for some countries seeking relief. Trump announced the tariffs March 8, and they’re expected to take effect on Friday.
The EU is “immediately’’ launching discussions with Trump and his administration over trade issues, including steel and aluminum, the countries said in a joint statement on Wednesday. The talks were agreed to by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross “with a view to identifying mutually acceptable outcomes as rapidly as possible.’’
Trump discussed “how the United States and Europe might come together over tariffs’’ with French President Emmanuel Macron by phone on Wednesday, according to a White House statement.
