Trump aides wanted $30 bn annual tariffs on China: POTUS made it $60 bn

United States President Donald Trump is preparing to impose a package of $60 billion in annual tariffs against China, following through on a long-time threat, which according to him will punish China for intellectual property infringement and help create more American jobs.

The tariff package, which Trump plans to unveil by Friday, was confirmed by four senior administration officials.

According to The Washington Post, senior aides had presented Trump with a $30 billion tariff package that would apply to a range of products.

But Trump directed them to roughly double the scope of the new trade levies.

The package could be applied to more than 100 products, which Trump argued were developed by using trade secrets the Chinese stole from the US companies or forced them to hand over in exchange for market access.