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President Donald Trump said that the White House is \u201cacting swiftly\u201d to stem the tide of intellectual property theft and demanded that China come up with a plan to reduce its trade deficit with the United States by $1 billion.<\/p>\n
Under the predecessors of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, China became the main perpetrator of intellectual property theft from the United States by encouraging the growth of a shadow industry which steals up to $5 trillion in value from the U.S. economy every year, according to a two-year investigative series by The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S. is acting swiftly on Intellectual Property theft,\u201d Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning. \u201cWe cannot allow this to happen as it has for many years!\u201d<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s hint of forthcoming moves on intellectual property theft was one of three China-related tweets he sent on Wednesday. Trump, in one tweet, demanded that China reduce its trade deficit by $1 billion, and in another, lamented the loss of U.S. jobs and factories due to the policies of his predecessors.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Bush 1 to present, our Country has lost more than 55,000 factories, 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs and accumulated Trade Deficits of more than 12 Trillion Dollars,\u201d Trump wrote in the first of three tweets. \u201cLast year we had a Trade Deficit of almost 800 Billion Dollars. Bad Policies & Leadership. Must WIN again!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cChina has been asked to develop a plan for the year of a One Billion Dollar reduction in their massive Trade Deficit with the United States,\u201d Trump wrote in the second tweet. \u201cOur relationship with China has been a very good one, and we look forward to seeing what ideas they come back with. We must act soon!\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump indicated on Jan. 17 that he is considering imposing a big fine on China as part of a probe into China\u2019s theft of intellectual property.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a very big intellectual property potential fine going, which is going to come out soon,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Trump and his economic adviser, Gary Cohn, said China had forced U.S. companies to transfer their intellectual property to China as a cost of doing business there.<\/p>\n
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While Trump did not specify what he meant by a \u201cfine\u201d against China, the 1974 trade law that authorized an investigation into China\u2019s theft of U.S. intellectual property allows him to impose retaliatory tariffs on Chinese goods or other trade sanctions until China changes its policies.<\/p>\n
Trump said the damages could be high.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about big damages. We\u2019re talking about numbers that you haven\u2019t even thought about,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
U.S. businesses say they lose hundreds of billions of dollars in technology and millions of jobs to Chinese firms which have stolen ideas and software or forced them to turn over intellectual property as part of the price of doing business in China.<\/p>\n
The president said he wanted the United States to have a good relationship with China, but Beijing needed to treat the United States fairly.<\/p>\n
Trump said he would be announcing some kind of action against China over trade and said he would discuss the issue during his State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress on Jan. 30.<\/p>\n
Asked about the potential for a trade war depending on U.S. action over steel, aluminum, and solar panels, Trump said he hoped a trade war would not ensue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think so, I hope not. But if there is, there is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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