CHINA/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “TRUMP TO ESCALATE CHINESE TARIFFS: President Donald Trump plans to proceed with duties on roughly $200 billion more Chinese goods as soon as today, a move that likely will escalate a protracted trade battle between the world’s two largest economies. The White House will announce a 10 percent tariff on the list of goods early this week, a senior administration official told POLITICO’s Eliana Johnson on Saturday [9-15-18]. ‘We’ll start at 10’ percent, said the official, suggesting that the administration would follow the plan announced in July. But the duties could eventually be ratcheted up to 25 percent, the official added, as Trump directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider on Aug. 1. Union leaders, who otherwise have had little good to say about Trump, praise his hard-line trade stance. ‘We’re pretty supportive when it comes to China,’ AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters after the idea was floated in August, ‘because they have been, I’d say, the chief cook and bottle washer when it comes to trade violations.’”
–Ian Kullgren, “Trump to escalate Chinese tariffs,” Politico, September 17, 2018 10:00 am