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President Donald Trump is ready to further aggravate the trade war with China in the run-up to a crucial meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Monday, the president said it was "highly unlikely" that the US and China would reach an agreement to stop the 10 percent tariff on $ 200 billion. Chinese goods to increase to 25% on January 1.
In addition, Trump told the Journal that if the weekend talks with Xi at the G20 summit in Argentina were not going well, other fees could be considered.
"If we do not agree, then I will add an additional $ 267 billion," Trump said.
Trump for the first time announced tariffs on Chinese products in March, apparently to punish the country for theft of US intellectual property.
After the failure of negotiations on a trade deal with China, the first round of tariffs on Chinese goods worth $ 50 billion came into force in July.
A second round of tariffs on $ 200 billion worth of goods came into effect at the end of September, and Trump repeatedly threatened to impose a third round on the remaining imports that are not subject to tariffs.
While Trump said the third round would touch another $ 267 billion in goods, some reports fix the remaining $ 257 billion.
After mostly avoiding consumer goods during the first two pricing cycles, Trump said he was also willing to apply rates on items such as Apple's iPhone and laptops imported from China. The administration canceled plans to impose tariffs on some Apple products as part of the previous round, after the tech giant had put pressure on the president.
Economists warn that tariffs on consumer goods would drive up prices for Americans, limit consumer spending and ultimately hurt US economic growth. Trump disagreed with this assessment, suggesting instead that a low rate of duty on these products would go unnoticed to consumers.
"I mean, I can win 10%, and people could handle that very easily," he told the Journal.
In addition to customs duties, the Trump administration is resorting to a series of other measures to suppress China's economic practices. For example, the Commerce Department is considering stricter rules on the types of technology that can be exported to China, and the Ministry of Justice has laid charges against Chinese companies and individuals for economic espionage.
While it was hoped that the Trump-Xi talks could ease trade tensions, recent moves by the administration suggest a sustained trade war.
The US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, last week released an update of the investigation into intellectual property theft in China, which kicked off the tariff battle. He found that China had not changed any of the practices that precipitated Trump's tariff decision.
