White House Plans 25% Tariffs on China

The White House is planning to announce that it is pushing the proposed tariffs on China to 25 percent from 10 percent.

President Donald Trump has asked aides to prepare for more than doubling the proposed tariff on more than $200 billion of Chinese imports, according to a person familiar with the matter. The White House held a conference call on China Wednesday afternoon.

China has not accepted outreach from a number of high-level Trump administration officials seeking to restart stalled trade talks in recent weeks. Both White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have said the administration is open to further talks but China has not responded.

It is hoped that doubling the planned tariff rates will force China back to the table.

The U.S. is now imposing $34 billion in Chinese goods, and has another $16 billion planned shortly. Administration officials are exploring an additional $200 billion of goods on which tariffs might be imposed.

China responded with tariffs on U.S. goods, mainly farm exports. The U.S. responded by promising to support farmers with $12 billion in emergency aid aimed at making farmers better able to withstand the loss of sales to China.

The Trump administration has repeatedly said the goal of its China tariffs is not to build trade barriers against Chinese imports but to get the government to drop practices that result in the theft of U.S. technology and block U.S. exports from the Chinese markets.