U.S. renews tariff threat against China

The Trump administration on Tuesday renewed its threat to place 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods. The White House said it would restrict Chinese investment in the United States and limit U.S. exports of high-tech goods to China in retaliation to unfair trade practices. The announcement came days before a scheduled Saturday visit to China by U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross to negotiate the details of a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in mid-May said a previous tariff threat was “on hold” after Beijing promised to significantly increase purchases of U.S. farm goods and energy products to narrow the multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States. It is unclear if Tuesday’s announcement will derail Saturday’s negotiations. Some analysts suggested the renewed tariff threat is aimed at appeasing congressional critics of a deal last Friday by the Trump administration and Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp. The Chinese government on Wednesday said the U.S. decision to backpedal on its earlier agreement is “contrary to the consensus the two sides have previously reached” and hurts the administration’s credibility, but it did not reiterate previous threats to raise tariffs on U.S. goods in kind.