Donald Trump is promising to turn Washington upside down and defy the foreign policy status quo when he returns to the White House in January — but on one controversial issue, he’ll find plenty of bipartisan support.
Trump has talked about hiking tariffs on products from China across the board, ending trade benefits that have allowed cheap imports from the country for decades. Trade groups and importers really, really don’t want that: They say it would make their operations more expensive, and those costs would turn into higher prices for American consumers. But influential lawmakers are increasingly supporting Trump’s stance.
The Republican who chairs the House committee on competition with the Chinese government recently introduced a bill to end permanent normal trade relations with China and to hike tariffs, citing concerns about intellectual property theft by Chinese companies. And for the first time, a congressionally mandated bipartisan commission has likewise recommended ending permanent normal trade relations with China altogether.