President Donald Trump is slated to outline the results of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer's investigation into allegations that China violates U.S. intellectual property rights by forcing American companies to transfer valuable technology to Beijing. | Oliver Contreras/Pool/Getty Images White House plans China trade crackdown Thursday

The White House is preparing to announce on Thursday a plan to eventually hit China with tariffs and other trade restrictions, according to two administration officials.

President Donald Trump is slated to outline the results of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer's investigation into allegations that China violates U.S. intellectual property rights by forcing American companies to transfer valuable technology to Beijing.


Lighthizer’s office has determined that the United States loses at least $30 billion a year to China’s alleged forced technology transfers. As POLITICO reported last week, the administration is weighing a package of tariffs equivalent to that amount of Chinese imports or more.

Trump’s senior advisers have been debating which remedies to impose in response to the investigation for months, and they have drafted proposals for tariffs, investment restrictions and even visa limits aimed at China.

But it’s unclear whether the president will unveil specific retaliatory measures Thursday. People familiar with the internal debate said there are still ongoing discussions about exactly which actions the administration should take. Trump could instead simply instruct key agencies to finalize the proposals in the coming weeks or months.

The timing of the Thursday announcement could slip, especially if a snowstorm shuts down much of Washington midweek. The White House declined to comment Tuesday.

Sign up for Morning Trade A speed read on global trade news — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The administration is seeking to target goods that are “meaningful to China,” especially products and technology Beijing is seeking to boost through the Made in China 2025 initiative aimed at growing its high-tech sectors, an administration official said.

Two sources briefed on the administration’s planning said the White House is considering imposing tariffs on between $30 billion and $50 billion in Chinese imports. Those goods would be hit with one tariff rate across the board — with the intention of blocking most of those imports from entering the U.S. market, the sources said. But administration officials said the final numbers are still in flux.

The U.S. trade actions might eventually bring China to the table to talk about American concerns with Beijing’s industrial overcapacity, state subsidies and lack of market access for U.S. companies.

Still unclear is whether the White House has any specific thresholds for progress on those issues and what China might do for the U.S. to reverse the tariffs or investment curbs, according to administration officials and outside advisers.

“It’s a little bit of a red herring for the business community to be overly critical that there aren’t clear off-ramps for China, because it’s really unclear if the Chinese would even take them,” said one outside adviser to the administration who has been briefed on the planning of the trade actions against China.

The adviser added that leaders gathered this week at China’s National People’s Congress, the country’s rubber-stamping legislative body, appeared to “quintuple down” on their industrial policies geared toward elevating the country’s economy.

Still, the business community has urged congressional trade leaders to press Lighthizer, who is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill this week, on what kind of outcome the administration hopes to achieve. Trump was granted the authority to impose the trade restrictions under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

“The overall focus of the Section 301 investigation should be to bring China to the negotiating table for a meaningful resolution of specific, sector-by-sector issues with the ultimate goal of removing the offending practices and policies. Premature, unilateral sanctions alone are unlikely to achieve this objective,” National Foreign Trade Council President Rufus Yerxa wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees.

The expected 300-page report the administration is putting together as part of its probe into China’s intellectual property and technology transfer policies makes some recommendations on what China should do to curb those practices, a source familiar with its contents said.

But the tariff action Trump is ready to move ahead with seems geared more toward gaining leverage against China than achieving a methodical engagement that U.S. businesses would prefer, said an administration official involved in the planning.

“There’s a recognition that you have to punch a bully in the face,” the official said. “That’s the best explanation of what’s going on here.”