Trump Threatens to Slap Tariffs on All $500bn of Chinese Imports

US President Donald Trump has expressed readiness to intensify his trade war with China by imposing tariffs on all $500 billion of imports from the world's second largest economy.

Trump said in an interview with CNBC on Friday that he is “ready” and willing to slap tariffs on every single Chinese item imported to the US should the need arise.

The US president said Washington is “down a tremendous amount” in terms of trade with Beijing, reiterating his views that China's trade surplus with the US amounts to “unfair” trading practices.

“I’m not doing this for politics. I’m doing this to do this right thing for our country. We have been ripped off by China for a long time and I told that to President Xi,” Trump told CNBC.

In early July, Washington imposed 25 percent duties on $34 billion of imports from China in the first in a possible series of increases that Trump says could affect up to $550 billion of Chinese goods.

China announced that its retaliatory tariffs had also taken effect on $34 billion of US goods that included soybeans, pork and electric vehicles.

The US administration recently announced that it would impose 10 percent tariffs on an extra $200 billion worth of Chinese goods after China retaliated.

Beijing, in response, blasted American unilateralism and filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the new US-proposed tariffs.

China also warned the US that it would have no choice but to take “the necessary countermeasures” against Washington.

Trump has also accused Beijing of intellectual property theft, obstructing US businesses, and being responsible for America’s 375-billion-dollar trade deficit with China.

The Trump administration has also imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China and other North American and European countries in an effort to protect US producers.

The US tariffs are just the first step in a long strategy meant to shift the US manufacturing supply chain away from China, which is increasingly seen as a geopolitical rival.

The so-called Made in China 2025 initiative, a strategic plan by Beijing to upgrade Chinese industry, stands at the heart of the trade war between the US and China. The US government believes the plan is a major threat to US technological leadership and economic dominance.

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