Concerned that the U.S.’s tariffs on Chinese imports still haven’t had the desired effect of getting the Chinese to cave in to American trade demands, the Trump administration is reportedly considering amping up the pressure even more than was previously proposed.

Weeks after the White House said it wanted to slap 10% tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, President Donald Trump’s advisors are reportedly urging him to make it 25% instead. All this is on top of a 25% tariff on $34 billion in goods that’s already gone into effect, and similar tariffs that are about to go into effect on another $16 billion in Chinese goods.

“Once you go down the road of using tariffs to disrupt the Chinese, you have to say 25% compared to 10%,” Derek Scissors of the American Enterprise Institute, which advises the president, told the Wall Street Journal.

Reuters said the escalation was announced on last Wednesday.

The Chinese have already proposed buying more U.S. goods in order to settle the dispute, only to have the White House—which wants to win a broader argument about intellectual property and subsidies—reject the proposal. The two sides have not held high-level talks for a couple months now.

So what does the Chinese side think of the U.S.’s proposed escalation? Not a lot.

“If the U.S. takes measures to further escalate the situation, we will surely take countermeasures to uphold our legitimate rights and interests,” a Chinese foreign affairs ministry spokesman said Wednesday, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the proposed escalation.

China has already complained to the World Trade Organization about the 10% tariff plan.

The trade dispute is weighing heavily on the yuan, which fell further on last Wednesday along with Chinese equities, despite the Chinese administration announcing a push to support economic growth.

据报道，由于美国对进口中国商品加征关税后，中方并未按预期满足美方贸易需求，特朗普政府正考虑加大关税力度，甚至会超过此前提议的水平。

白宫几周前表示，将向新一批总值2000亿美元的中国进口商品征收10%的关税，而新近报道称，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的顾问敦促将税率提升至25%。在此之前，美国对340亿美元的中国进口商品征收25%关税已经生效，还将对另外160亿美元的商品征收25%关税。

“只要继续用关税对付中国，就必须用25%，而不是10%。”美国总统智囊美国企业研究所学者、中国经济问题专家史剑道向《华尔街日报》表示。

路透社报道称，特朗普政府于上周三宣布贸易战升级。

中国提出，为了化解贸易争端愿意增加购买美国商品，但白宫已拒绝，目的是在更广泛的知识产权和政府补贴议题方面争取更多利益。迄今为止，中美高层对话已停滞数月。

那么，中方怎么看美国要将关税升级的消息？显然不高兴。

据首先爆出特朗普政府可能改征更高关税消息的彭博社报道，中国外交部发言人称：“如果美方采取升级的举动，中方必然会予以反制，坚决维护我们的正当合法权益。”

中国已经就美国向中国输美商品征收10%的关税向世界贸易组织提出申诉。

贸易争端对人民币汇率造成巨大压力。新华社上周三报道称，日前中共中央政治局会议释放了坚持稳中求进，保持经济平稳健康发展的强烈信号。尽管如此，当天A股和人民币仍进一步走低。（财富中文网）

译者：charlie

审校：夏林