Washington • President Donald Trump took the first steps toward imposing tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods and limiting China’s ability to invest in the U.S. technology industry Thursday, saying the moves were a response to Beijing’s history of forcing U.S. companies to surrender their trade secrets to do business in China.
The president directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to announce a proposed list of products to be hit with tariff increases within 15 days. After a public comment period, the final list, designed to target Chinese products that benefited from improper access to U.