Trump could impose tariffs on 200 billion dollars of Chinese products next week

President Donald Trump plans to do about $ 200 billion more in Chinese goods on Monday, a senior administration official confirmed on Saturday, intensifying what has already become a protracted trade battle between the two largest corporations. economies of the world.

The White House could announce Monday or Tuesday that it would impose a tariff rate of 10% on the list of goods of 200 billion dollars, indicated the person in charge to POLITICO. But these tariffs could reach 25%, as proposed by Trump last month by increasing the tariff.

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"We will start at 10 am," said the official.

The administration has threatened these tariffs for months to punish Chinese policies that have resulted in theft of intellectual property or mandatory technology transfer to US companies operating in that country. A The public comment period on Trump's latest tariff series officially ended last week, allowing the president to put the threat into action.

In recent months, the government has generally conducted an analysis of public comments before implementing announced tariffs, which are currently taxed at around $ 53 billion of Chinese imports. But Trump's remarks in recent weeks have indicated he does not want to delay his plan.

However, the pressure exerted by American companies may have allowed the administration to limit its shooting a little bit in the last cycle. Many companies have urged Trump to take into account the effects of tariffs on consumers, especially before the retail holiday season.

"Continued tariff escalation with China is only worsening US economic interests, including farmers, families, businesses and workers," said the National Retail Federation and 150 other companies. Robert Lighthizer sales representative this month.

The president has also threatened to impose tariffs on almost all of the $ 505 billion that the United States imports from China. "I hate to say that, but behind that, there's another $ 267 billion ready to go on short notice if I want to," Trump told reporters aboard the Air Force One last week.

Trump held his speech on China earlier this week, as his administration and the Chinese leadership planned to resume trade talks later this month.

"We are not under pressure to reach an agreement with China, they are under pressure to reach an agreement with us. Our markets are booming, theirs are falling apart. We will soon be participating in billions of tariffs and product manufacturing at home. If we meet, do we meet? "Trump posted on Twitter on Thursday.

A White House spokesman confirmed Friday that Trump was planning to go ahead with the rates in response to a Bloomberg report that Trump had asked his associates to prepare to impose them.

"The president has made it clear that he and his administration will continue to take action to tackle China's unfair trade practices. We encourage China to respond to the long-standing concerns of the United States, "said White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters on Friday.

Walters said Saturday that she did not have any other comments at that time.

Beijing has threatened to fight back with tariffs ranging from 5 to 25 percent on an additional $ 60 billion in US goods as soon as Chinese tariffs are imposed.

To date, China has responded favorably to Trump's tariffs, giving US $ 53 billion worth of US exports to China, much of which was US agricultural products. But the United States exports only about 130 billion US dollars worth of goods, which means that China may need to go beyond the tariffs to take revenge for Trump's latest trade measures.

Trump news forecasting tariffs on $ 200 billion worth of goods as early as next week have been reported for the first time by the Washington Post.

Doug Palmer contributed to this report.