White House indicates additional US action against Chinese imports

US President Donald Trump might take additional action against Chinese products, the White House has indicated.

The US has some USD 500 billion trade deficit with China. Ever since coming to power, Trump has sought to reduce this trade deficit which he says is mainly due to the unfair trade practices of China.

"His goal is free, fair, and reciprocal trade agreements in which other countries grant American products and American exports just as much access as we grant to their products and their imports into the US. He's going to be pushing for that, and there could be additional actions," White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters today in a gaggle abroad Air Force One.

Shah was responding to a question on media reports that the Trump administration is working to increase import tariff on a number of Chinese products. Early this month he had imposed a 25 per cent tariff on import of steel and another 10 per cent on aluminium.

"The president campaigned on, believes in strongly, that American workers and American businesses have been ripped off by foreign trade competitors and partners in the past, and he wants to level the playing field," Shah said.

Meanwhile, Florida Senator Marco Rubio urged the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) to include language in the upcoming Higher Education Reauthorization Act to address Chinese government-run programmes known as 'Confucius Institutes'.

Specifically, he urged the committee to make it harder for China to evade reporting requirements for any money it gives to US colleges and universities and to "require colleges and universities to choose between federal funding and Confucius Institute-related funding from the Chinese government".

"Confucius Institutes are Chinese government-run programs that use the teaching of Chinese language and culture as a tool to expand the political influence of the PRC," he said.

There are presently more than 100 Confucius Institutes, in addition to Confucius Classrooms at the K-12 level in the US.