The United States is preparing to hit China with $ 200 billion worth of goods as part of the escalating trade war

The Trump administration is preparing to tax $ 200 billion more in Chinese products, which would intensify the deadly trade war between the two largest economies in the world.

U.S. The trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, unveiled Tuesday night a proposed listing of more than 6,000 products that would be taxed at 10% import. President Donald Trump had ordered him last month to list if China retaliated against a previous US tariff.

Targeted products range from chemicals and building materials to fabrics and buttons to bags and food products. and air conditioners – a large inventory that would inflict economic suffering on the entire Chinese manufacturing sector while raising prices for US businesses and consumers.

The administration will consult on products during the summer. Final decision on rates after August 30th.

The latest salvo is part of Trump's multifront trade war, which saw Washington take its rivals and allies to fulfill the president's promise to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. But much of the president's base has been caught in the crossfire economic, raising questions about the suffering that the country may endure as Mr. Trump continues his trade agenda.

Trump hit Chinese imports worth 34 billion US dollars with 25% tariffs from last week, and another value of 16 billion US dollars will be added shortly. These levies target key sectors of China's industrial strategy, including computer hardware, railway equipment and aerospace manufacturing. They aim to pressure China to stop stealing the trade secrets of US companies and force them to hand over intellectual property to Chinese companies as a condition for doing business there.

Instead of giving in, China retaliates retaliatory rights against US products. The new tariff series is a retaliatory measure against retaliation.

"For many years, China has abused intellectual property and innovation practices," Lighthizer said in a statement. "Rather than responding to our legitimate concerns, China has started to retaliate against US products."

Although the theft and coercion of intellectual property by foreign companies is widely recognized, commercial experts are largely skeptical about Mr Trump's strategy. Robert Holleyman, the US head of trade with Asia during the second term of former President Barack Obama, called the tariffs "tax hikes on US imports".

"None of this has produced a dramatic change in other countries and resulted in further retaliation, "Holleyman wrote in an email. "Dependence on more and more taxes as a means of driving change is a high-risk strategy with US importers and exporters at heart."

Trump administration officials claim that Obama's preferred methods of unfair business practices – negotiations and litigation at the World Trade Organization – were ineffective, and it's time to take a harder line.

The fight with China comes as Mr. Trump is also locked in a trade war with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and other allies of the United States. The president imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on these countries and threatened to hit them with taxes on imported cars and trucks. He also renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement, demanding that Canada and Mexico eliminate trade barriers for the United States while allowing Washington to erect more barriers to Canadian and Mexican businesses.

. companies that started to raise prices or lay off workers. And China's retaliation was aimed at soybean and other growers in the center of the United States Republic. These groups and their GOP members of Congress – previously largely in favor of Mr. Trump – have begun to press for the president to calm down in his trade war.

David Cohen, a political scientist at Akron University, said the pressure on Mr. Trump would increase as economic pain spreads in affected businesses to be more widely felt by consumers.

"Americans like cheap goods. There is a reason they shop at Walmart. When they see their prices go up, they will be shocked. "

But if all of this has an effect on the President is an open question: Mr. Trump's own Republican Party is not at all d & # 39; Agrees with his protectionist stance on trade, but has not changed

"I'm not sure Trump feels under pressure. I'm not sure he's worried about Congress members angry at him, or what the rest of the Republican Party thinks, "said Mr. Cohen." He's just waiting for that. " 39, they put themselves in line behind what he wants. "