US sets second tranche of China tariffs

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

The U.S. on Tuesday set a wide-ranging list of $16 billion worth of Chinese goods that will be hit with a 25 percent tariff later this month in the latest trade escalation between Washington and Beijing.

Customs and Border Protection will start to collect the duties on 279 of an original list of 284 product lines beginning Aug. 23, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Affected goods include AC and DC motors, voltage-current regulators, steam turbines, railway cars, antennas and integrated circuits.

The U.S. in early July imposed 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods, roiling Beijing, who struck back with an equivalent amount of levies on U.S. goods.

China announced last Friday it plans to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on $60 billion of U.S. goods as the trade salvos between the world's two largest economies continued.

In the interim, the U.S. is readying 10 percent tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

The U.S. has been seeking to have China reverse course on what it calls Beijing's "unreasonable and discriminatory" policies related to technology transfer and intellectual property and to narrow the trade deficit.

A report released by the Trade Representative in March determined China "uses joint venture requirements, foreign investment restrictions, and administrative review and licensing processes to require or pressure technology transfer from U.S. companies" and "deprives U.S. companies of the ability to set market-based terms in licensing and other technology-related negotiations."

It further said China conducts and backs hacking efforts targeting U.S. companies that seek to steal business secrets.

President Donald Trump's National Economic Council director, Larry Kudlow, warned China against underestimating the president, saying "China knows what we are asking, they just have not made satisfactory responses."

The U.S.-China trade relationship is estimated at $650 billion annually. But the U.S. imports far more from China than it exports.

U.S. exports to China totaled $169.8 billion in 2016, while imports hit $478.8 billion that year.