The Trump administration plans to use ongoing tariff negotiations to pressure U.S. trading partners to limit their dealings with China, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.
The idea is to get U.S. trading partners to commit to isolating China’s economy in exchange for lowering trade and tariff barriers imposed by the White House. U.S. officials plan to use the talks with more than 70 countries to ask them to ban Chinese goods from their countries, prevent Chinese companies from locating on their territory to avoid U.S. tariffs, and stop absorbing cheap Chinese manufactured goods into their economies.
The measures are designed to hurt China’s already fragile economy and force Beijing to come to the negotiating table with less leverage ahead of potential talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The exact requirements could vary widely by country, given its level of involvement in the Chinese economy.
U.S. officials have raised the idea in early talks with some countries, the paper said. Trump himself hinted at the strategy on Tuesday, telling the Spanish-language Fox Noticias program that he would consider forcing countries to choose between the U.S. and China in response to a question about Panama’s decision not to resume its role in the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s global infrastructure program for developing countries.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, who took the lead in trade talks after Trump announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs on most countries on April 9, but not on China, is one of the authors of the strategy. Bessant raised the idea with Trump during an April 6 meeting at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s Florida club, people familiar with the discussion said, saying that demanding concessions from U.S. trading partners could prevent Beijing and its companies from evading U.S. tariffs, export controls and other economic measures.
