President Donald Trump said on Friday his administration is ready to proceed with imposing additional tariffs on Chinese products worth $267 billion on short notice and could opt to do so in the very near future.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th September, 2018) President Donald Trump said on Friday his administration is ready to proceed with imposing additional tariffs on Chinese products worth $267 billion on short notice and could opt to do so in the very near future.
"There's another $267 billion ready to go on short notice if I want. That totally changes the equation," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that he could impose the tariffs "very soon."
Trump said China has become a much bigger problem than has been reported. He added Beijing has been "taking" $500 billion annually, in an apparent reference to the value of Chinese goods imported to the United States. Therefore, he said, the White House was forced to be tough on China as this is the only way such practices will stop.
The US president added that $267 billion in tariffs would come on top of the $200 billion in duties on Chinese goods that the administration has already been preparing to put in place.
The United States and China have been in a trade standoff since March, with several rounds of import duties having been imposed by both sides since then.
