Donald Trump's administration is expected to postpone announcing new tariffs over trading partners' alleged excess manufacturing capacity until after Trump meets Chinese President 
Xi Jinping next week. The reason for the delay is unclear, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
What had been planned? The administration had intended, Bloomberg reported last month, to issue a trade report on excess manufacturing capacity before the summit that would recommend a 7.5 percent tariff on Chinese products. Under the original plan, CNA reported, the tariff rate on China during Trump's second term would have returned to around 20 percent, a level Beijing has previously said is consistent with the U.S.-China trade truce. It is also unclear whether the final rate will differ from the level previously expected. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the White House did not respond to requests for comment, and Inside US Trade was the first to report the postponement.
What investigations are behind the tariffs? In March, the administration launched a trade investigation into South Korea, China, Japan and 13 other economies over "unfair" trade practices related to "structural" excess capacity and production, a move that could result in tariffs, Yonhap reported. The same month, it opened a separate investigation into 60 economies to determine whether their governments had taken sufficient steps to ban imports of goods produced with forced labor; in July, the Trade Representative's office announced a final decision to impose tariffs of up to 12.5 percent on South Korea, Japan and 58 other trading partners over forced labor concerns. Both investigations were conducted under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, as the administration pushed for new duties to replace the country-specific emergency tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down in February. Combined with the forced labor duties already in place, the planned tariffs are expected to bring rates closer to those struck-down levels, CNA reported.
When and where is the summit? Trump, Yonhap reported, is expected to hold the summit with Xi in Washington on Sept. 24, more than four months after their previous meeting in Beijing. U.S. and Chinese officials are expected to discuss a range of issues during the talks, including the Iran war, trade and artificial intelligence, CNA reported.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump, Xi Jinping. — JudgeMarket.
