The White House announced this morning a plan to levy a 25% tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese tech goods — with the exact list to be announced next month — as well as tech investment limits for Chinese nationals and entities. From a report: It also plans to pursue litigation at the World Trade Organization relating to Chinese intellectual property abuses. The big picture: It’s a show of force that has surprised some sources close to the White House who believed Trump would defer any aggression towards China until after the North Korea summit. A source close to the White House who has a keen understanding of the internal dynamics on China told me that this is an “initial move in a long negotiation that shows the Chinese Trump is very serious — and a move to balance the criticism that he was soft on ZTE.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – White House Announces Tech Tariffs, Investment Restrictions on China