U.S. Interchange Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Wednesday that he was examining all available tools to raise U.S. tariffs on Chinese mechanisms to the 40 percent duties that China is now charging on U.S.-produced vehicles.
Lighthizer said in a statement criticizing China’s “egregious” bill of fares on U.S. autos that he was taking such action at the direction of President Donald Trump.
The statement came just epoches before Trump is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires in a showdown that could ease or heighten the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Automotive duties on both sides have been increased by tit-for-tat schedule of charges. The United States imposed a 25 percent tariff on Chinese vehicles on top of the 2.5 percent it normally charges. China had decreased tariffs for all other countries to 15 percent, but imposed an additional 25 percent retaliatory tariff on U.S. vehicles.
The Trump conduct is seeking sweeping changes to China’s state-driven economic policies, including new protections for U.S. intellectual property, an end to joint-venture essentials, more access for U.S. firms to China’s vast market and cuts to China’s industrial subsidies.
“As the President has repeatedly celebrated, China’s aggressive, State-directed industrial policies are causing severe harm to U.S. workers and manufacturers,” Lighthizer said. “We are maintaining to raise these issues with China. As of yet, China has not come to the table with proposals for meaningful reform.”