White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said President Trump’s threat to slap billions of dollars in tariffs on Chinese goods is needed to grab Beijing’s attention because it has been taking advantage of American businesses for decades with impunity.

“Look, we have had to go in and fire a shot across the bow. China’s behavior, it’s 20 years now, it’s more than unfair trade practices. It’s illegal trading practices,” Kudlow said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Kudlow, who took over last week for former economic adviser Gary Cohn, said China has limited American products by erecting strict trade barriers and stealing companies’ intellectual property.

“The problem here is China, it is not President Trump. China has been getting away with this for decades,” he said.

Earlier, in an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” Kudlow said Trump is right to call China out.

“He’s not bluffing. I mean, there are a number of tools at his disposal,” he said.

The world’s two largest economic powers in the past week engaged in an escalating battle over trade tariffs.

The US and China lobbed matching threats to impose tariffs on $50 billion worth of goods.

And on Thursday, Trump upped the ante by ​directing his administration ​to consider $100 billion in additional penalties ​on Chinese goods.

“So the President is trying to get their attention again. The process may include tariffs. I can’t rule that out. It may rest eventually on negotiations​,​” ​Kudlow said.

“Maybe China will want to come round and talk in earnest​. ​So far it hasn’t. I hope it does.”

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Peter Navarro, the ​director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing

Policy, said the rhetoric on tariffs represent a warning and a chance for dialogue.

“We’re moving forward in a measured way with tariffs, with investment restrictions,” ​Navarro said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “What we want from China is very clear. We want fair and reciprocal trade. We want them to stop stealing our stuff. We want them to guard intellectual property, not take it from us.”