US may impose $200B China tariffs next week: report

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK

The U.S. may impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods as early as next week after a public comment period on the issue ends, according to a report Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled his intention to impose $200 billion in tariffs after the Sept. 6 deadline passes, Bloomberg News reported.

The U.S.'s 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods were implemented in July, while an additional $16 billion went into effect last week.

Trump said last month he is ready to increase tariffs to $500 billion, almost the total value of goods the U.S. imported from China in 2017.

While Beijing has so far responded by imposing the same amount of tariffs against the U.S., it will fall short if Trump goes with his plan to impose $200 billion tariffs.

China imported just $130 billion of American products last year, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

After the report, U.S. stocks declined with the Dow down 137 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each ended four-day record breaking streaks.