Market Insider

US could target 10 Chinese industries, including new-energy vehicles, biopharma

Key Points
  • U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer listed 10 high-tech industries for possible tariffs, all of which he says China has said it plans to dominate in its 2025 plan.
  • President Donald Trump will make the final determination on what will be targeted. An announcement was expected later Thursday.
  • "These are things that China listed and said we're going to take technology, spend a couple hundred billion dollars and dominate the world," said Lighthizer.
  • "This is not like our spies figured this out. They put this out, and they say this," he said.
Lighthizer: These are things that if China dominates the world, it's bad for America
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Lighthizer: These are things that if China dominates the world, it's bad for America

Aeronautics, modern rail, and new-energy vehicles are among 10 Chinese industries the U.S. could target for tariffs, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said.

Lighthizer provided a list of the industries he is recommending for tariffs to the Senate Committee on Finance on Thursday morning, ahead of the anticipated announcement of tariffs later in the day. President Donald Trump makes the final determination on the details.

"These are things that China listed and said we're going to take technology, spend a couple hundred billion dollars and dominate the world," Lighthizer told the committee. "These are things that if China dominates the world, it's bad for America."

Lighthizer said the industries include sectors that China has targeted itself for expansion, in its 2025 plan.

They include new advanced information technology; automated machine tools and robotics; aerospace and aeronautics equipment; maritime equipment and high-tech shipping; new-energy vehicles equipment; modern rail transport equipment; agricultural equipment; new materials, biopharma and advanced medical products.

"Every one of them, they say they want to be mostly self-sufficient in two or three years, and basically world dominant by 2025," he said.

"If you sit here, you're basically going to think this sounds like America in the next decade," he said.

"This is not like our spies figured this out. They put this out, and they say this," he said. He noted that China previously sought dominance in solar panels and succeeded.

"There are a few consumer items that should not be on there, and they are not on there," he said.

— With reporting by Kayla Tausche