President Donald Trump is weighing imposing tariffs and investment curbs on China to punish the Asian nation for violating U.S. intellectual property, a decision that could come in the “very near future,” Trump’s top trade negotiator said.

“The president, I believe, is going to make a decision in the very near future on this issue,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday in Washington.

Trump instructed Lighthizer last year to investigate allegations that China steals U.S. intellectual property and forces American companies to transfer their technological know-how to Chinese firms as a condition of doing business in the Asian country. USTR has completed its report on the issue, and the president is weighing tariffs of as much as $60 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision could come as early as this week, the people said.

Lighthizer confirmed Wednesday that the administration is considering both tariffs and curbs on Chinese investment, among other options.

China is preparing to hit back at Trump’s planned sweeping tariffs with levies aimed at industries and states which tend to employ his supporters, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

IP Views

“Our view is that we have a very serious problem of losing our intellectual property, which is really the biggest single advantage of the American economy,” Lighthizer told lawmakers. “We are losing that to China” in a way that doesn’t reflect economic fundamentals, he said.

Sweeping U.S. tariffs will test the resolve of Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose government has so far reacted in a measured fashion to Trump’s repeated complaints about the U.S.’s
record $375 billion deficit with China. The country’s foreign minister said earlier this month, in response to Trump’s decision to impose steel and aluminum tariffs, that China would have a “justified and necessary response” to any efforts to incite a trade war.

U.S. Planning Action Against China Over IP in ‘Very Near Future’

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday that the nation will further open its economy, including the manufacturing sector, and pledged to lower import tariffs and cut taxes. In opening manufacturing further, China won’t force foreign companies to transfer technology to domestic ones and will protect intellectual property, he said.

Lighthizer has been probing China’s IP practices under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The law allows Lighthizer, at the president’s discretion, to take broad steps, including tariffs, to correct against any harm against U.S. businesses.

The USTR has argued that China uses a range of practices to force companies to transfer IP, and Chinese entities engage in widespread theft of U.S. trade secrets, as it seeks to become a leader in advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence. U.S. businesses in China have long complained about being forced to hand over technology as the price of gaining access to the market.