US President Donald Trump has said that he has instructed the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) “to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs for China would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs".
In response, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer made the following statement: “President Trump is proposing an appropriate response to China’s recent threat of new tariffs. After a detailed investigation, USTR found overwhelming evidence that China’s unreasonable actions are harming the US economy. In the light of such evidence, the appropriate response from China should be to change its behavior, as China’s government has pledged to do many times. Unfortunately, China has chosen to respond thus far with threats to impose unjustified tariffs on billions of dollars in US exports, including our agricultural products. Under these circumstances, the President is right to ask for additional appropriate action to obtain the elimination of the unfair acts, policies, and practices identified in USTR’s report.”
Any additional tariffs proposed will be subject to a similar public comment process as the proposed tariffs announced on April 3, 2018. No tariffs will go into effect until the respective process is complete.
Commenting on the latest additional tariffs, a spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that if the US disregards the opposition of the Chinese side and the international community and persists in unilateralism and trade protectionism, the Chinese side will definitely fight back at any cost to defend the interests of the country and its people.