Lighthizer: China has not corrected actions that led to tariffs
- In a report from Robert Lighthizer’s office, the US trade representative says China hasn’t changed ‘its unfair, unreasonable, and market-distorting practices’
- The announcement comes 10 days before an expected G20 meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping
China has not changed unfair and discriminatory practices that prompted US President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on around US$250 billion worth of Chinese goods, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Tuesday.
The trade chief made the statement in conjunction with a 53-page update his office released on a report on its investigation into China's intellectual property practices under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act. That probe and the initial report from March provided the legal basis for Trump to impose tariffs on nearly half of all imports from China.
“We completed this update as part of this administration’s strengthened monitoring and enforcement effort,” Lighthizer said in a statement.
“This update shows that China has not fundamentally altered its unfair, unreasonable, and market-distorting practices that were the subject of the March 2018 report on our Section 301 investigation.”
The announcement comes 10 days before a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires that could set the stage for a pause in the trade conflict or a further escalation. Lighthizer's statement indicates that China has done little over the past eight months to address the concerns laid out in its original report.