Trump Administration to Launch Probe of Alleged Chinese Technology Theft
August 12 2017 - 2:59PM
Dow Jones News
By Jacob Schlesinger
WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration announced plans Saturday
to pressure China over alleged intellectual property theft, adding
the threat of trade retaliation to an ongoing campaign seeking
greater cooperation from Beijing in the North Korean nuclear
crisis.
Aides said President Donald Trump will sign a directive Monday
ordering his trade representative to start a formal probe into
whether Chinese government agencies and companies were unfairly
acquiring valuable patents and licenses from U.S. firms, either
through outright theft, or by pressuring Americans to turn over
their inventions as the price of entry into China's market.
"Such theft not only damages American companies, but can
threaten our national security," a senior administration official
said in a Saturday morning briefing for reporters.
Officials at the briefing stressed that while they were casting
a spotlight on what they consider a major irritant in bilateral
commercial relations, they weren't rushing into action. They said
Monday's directive would launch a study into whether a formal trade
investigation was warranted, and that probe would take a year or
more. They declined to discuss what sorts of penalties the U.S.
might impose against China, saying that question was
"premature."
The administration made the announcement a day after Mr. Trump
held a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss
escalating tensions over North Korea's rapidly advancing nuclear
weapons program. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said he would cut Beijing
slack over trade issues if he felt the Chinese were being helpful
in reining in Pyongyang.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the month that a new
trade investigation over China's alleged forced technology
transfers was in the works and had been planned for an early August
announcement. But that was delayed until after an Aug. 5 U.N.
Security Council vote imposing new financial penalties on North
Korea, which China supported.
Asked if Mr. Trump discussed the pending trade investigation
with Mr. Xi on Friday, an official pointed to the official White
House summary of the call, which didn't mention trade issues.
The White House aides said the new trade probe wasn't tied to
the administration's North Korea strategy, despite the president's
earlier linkage of the subjects. "These are totally unrelated
events," one official said. "Trade is trade. National security is
national security."
Write to Jacob Schlesinger at jacob.schlesinger@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 12, 2017 14:44 ET (18:44 GMT)
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