US weighing ‘many billions’ of dollars in sanctions on Chinese items via accelerated probe

Trump administration could release results of investigation into China’s intellectual property practices early, triggering punitive action, analyst said

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The bulk of sanctions that could come from the US’s investigation into China’s alleged theft of intellectual property could target China’s telecom and semiconductor sectors, a trade analyst said. Photo: Handout

Published: 6:15am, 23 Jan 2018Updated: 9:22am, 23 Jan 2018

The administration of US President Donald Trump is considering releasing the results of its investigation into China’s alleged theft of intellectual property ahead of schedule, a move that could speed up the probe and set sanctions against Chinese products worth “many billions” of US dollars into motion, a trade analyst said.

Derek Scissors, a trade expert at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, told the South China Morning Post that an announcement of the initial findings of the probe under Section 301 of the US Trade Act could come “a few days” before Trump delivers his first official State of the Union address to Congress on January 30.

The bulk of the sanctions coming out of the investigation could primarily target China’s telecom and semiconductor sectors, Scissors said.

Donald Trump’s chief trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, briefed the US president on pending trade enforcement actions. Photo: Reuters

“This is a political decision [to make] and the date [of the first announcement] could change,” he said.

The expected announcement could be just the first of several to be made in the weeks and months ahead, he said.