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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

President Trump has signed a presidential memorandum [bbc.com] directing the U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to draw up a list of Chinese products that could have tariffs imposed on. 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 [reuters.com] portrays the action as "far removed from threats that could have ignited a global trade war". Bloomberg [bloomberg.com] notes that many industry trade groups and companies are opposing the tariffs.

Also at NPR [npr.org] and The Hill [thehill.com].

Related: US Government Puts Tariffs on Imported Solar Cells, Solar Modules, and Washing Machines [soylentnews.org]
Major US Solar Company Blames Job Cuts On Trump's Solar Import Tariff [soylentnews.org]
U.S. Steel and Aluminum Imports to Face New Tariffs [soylentnews.org]

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