The Washington Post reports tonight that President Donald Trump is preparing to impose a package of $60 billion in annual tariffs against Chinese products. The tariff package, which Trump plans to unveil by Friday, was confirmed to the Washington Post by four senior administration officials.
The Post’s story continues: “Senior aides had presented Trump with a $30 billion tariff package that would apply to a range of products, but Trump directed them to roughly double the scope of the new trade levies. The package could be applied to more than 100 products, which Trump argues were developed by using trade secrets that China stole from U.S. companies or forced them to hand over in exchange for access to its massive market.”
I’m sure that this will make life much easier for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the G20 meeting of global finance ministers in Buenos Aires today and tomorrow. A number of Mnuchin’s counterparts have told him in very direct terms what a bad idea the Trump administration’s tariff plans are–and that was before any tariffs specifically targeting China.
