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President Trump has signed a presidential memorandum directing the U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to draw up a list of Chinese products on which tariffs could be imposed. The list will be made public in 15 days, and tariffs will take effect after a 60-day comment period:
The US plans to impose tariffs on up to $60bn (£42.5bn) in Chinese goods and limit the country's investment in the US in retaliation for years of alleged intellectual property theft.
The White House said the actions were necessary to counter unfair competition from China's state-led economy. It said years of talks had failed to produce change. China said it was ready to retaliate with "necessary measures". Beijing also said it would "fight to the end" in any trade war with the US.
US stock markets closed lower on Thursday, as investors responded to the announcement. [...] The White House said it has a list of more than 1,000 products that could be targeted by tariffs of 25%. Businesses will have the opportunity to comment before the final list goes into effect.
Reuters portrays the action as "far removed from threats that could have ignited a global trade war". Bloomberg notes that many industry trade groups and companies are opposing the tariffs.
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(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday March 23 2018, @05:07PM
No, this is where the old adage must be recalled: "When you owe the bank a little money, the bank owns you. When you owe the bank a lot of money, you own the bank."
China's economy has been growing, and they have been strengthening their military. But a nation's strength rests on many levels, and the United States still has far, far greater power than China does or will have for some time to come. Also, it's worth mentioning for all the moaning and gnashing of teeth about the death of manufacturing in the United States, it still has an incredibly strong manufacturing economy.
The United States still does have legions of scientists and engineers who can mobilize if required (as much as they have been disgracefully abused in the last 20 years).
Washington DC delenda est.