Ryan: Tariffs Are Not the Answer to China’s Unfair Trade Practices

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) (Screenshot)

(CNSNews.com) - House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Wednesday that tariffs are not the answer to China’s current trade practices and he agrees with Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) on the idea that President Donald Trump should sit down with China’s President Xi Jinping.

“We appear to be in a full out trade war now the president plans to put an additional $200 billion worth of tariffs on China…What can Congress do to pull back some trade authority and would you support Senator Corker’s amendment to give more congressional approval over section 232?” a reporter asked.

“Yeah I don’t want to hamstring the president’s negotiating tactics, but I’ve long said I don’t think tariffs are the right way to go,” Ryan said. “I think there are legitimate absolutely legitimate unfair trade practices, particularly by China, that we and our allies should be confronting.

“So ... that is important to point out that China does deal with intellectual property. They do engage in unfair trade practices, which violate not just the spirit of the letter of the WTO standards that they agreed to play by years ago, so I think we’re right to point that out.

“I just don’t think tariffs are the right mechanism to do that, and I think Chairman Brady probably put it right this morning, which is, he encouraged the president to sit down with [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping] and work this out, and I think that’s a good idea,” Ryan said.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is preparing to impose a third round of 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products, which will go into effect after Aug. 30. China threatened to hit back at the U.S., calling the latest round of tariffs “unacceptable.”

The U.S. is currently working on a second wave of tariffs targeting Chinese products worth $16 billion. Last week, the U.S. imposed $34 billion on Chinese products, to which China responded by imposing tariffs on $34 billion worth of U.S. products.

A fourth round of tariffs could be imposed against China if it retaliates against the third round of tariffs that the U.S. imposes, President Donald Trump said in June.