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Speaker 1: President Trump has taken a step toward confronting China over

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Speaker 1: its handling of intellectual property. Yesterday, Trump signed a memorandum

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Speaker 1: directing the U s Trade Representative to consider investigating China's policies,

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Speaker 1: including its practice of forcing US companies to transfer their

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Speaker 1: technological secrets to Chinese businesses. Here was Trump explaining the move.

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Speaker 1: We will combat the counterfeiting and piracy that destroys American jobs.

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Speaker 1: We will enforce the rules of fair and reciprocal trade

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Speaker 1: that formed the foundation of responsible commerce. And we will

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Speaker 1: protect forgotten Americans who have been left behind by a

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Speaker 1: global trade system. With us here to talk about the

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Speaker 1: president's actions and its implications. Here with me in the

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg ninety nine one studio in Washington is Andrew Maida,

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg News is global trade reporter. Andrew. Thanks for being here, Um,

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Speaker 1: help us unwrap this. Explain what exactly Trump did yesterday,

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Speaker 1: What happens next. I've been one on one level. It

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Speaker 1: kind of sounds procedural. He told the US Trade Senitive

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Speaker 1: to consider investigating. But I gather it's it's more significant

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Speaker 1: than that. Yeah, you're right. He stopped short of doing

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Speaker 1: what some experts were expecting some people were expecting him

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Speaker 1: to order an investigation. But as you point out, he

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Speaker 1: has just ordered Robert Leitheiser, the U. S. Trade Representative,

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Speaker 1: to consider an investigation. So, UM, findings on this are

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Speaker 1: probably at least a year away, but they could have

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Speaker 1: serious consequences. Um. This has been done under section three

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Speaker 1: oh one of the nineteen seventy four Trade Act. It

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Speaker 1: hasn't been used extensively in some time, and but it

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Speaker 1: does empower the President to take unilateral action to, for example,

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Speaker 1: impose import teiffs on Chinese products. Andrew tell us about

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Speaker 1: some of China's IP policies that seem to be crossing

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Speaker 1: the line into theft, especially forcing US companies operating there

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Speaker 1: to transfer techno logical know how. Yeah, this is a

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Speaker 1: longstanding criticism of Chinese industrial policy by by American companies.

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Speaker 1: Just to give you example, some firms, in order to

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Speaker 1: get regulatory approvals from the Chinese government are required to

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Speaker 1: either design their products in a way that can be

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Speaker 1: replicated in China or just outright to sign over the

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Speaker 1: v I P. Sou So, as you can imagine, that's

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Speaker 1: that's problematic, especially in the tech sector. So tell us

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Speaker 1: a little more about this this mechanism. You said that

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Speaker 1: section three oh one hasn't really been used much lately.

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Speaker 1: What is, why is Donald Trump invoking it? And what

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Speaker 1: is the significance and how does that differ from what

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Speaker 1: other presidents have done on trade. Yeah, this administration is

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Speaker 1: pulling out all the old trade laws and and and

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Speaker 1: uh provisions that had kind of gone dormant. Section thirty

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Speaker 1: two is when we've seen with respect to steal in

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Speaker 1: this case, as I mentioned, it's section three oh one

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Speaker 1: of the nineteen four Trade Act. Now what's interesting is

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Speaker 1: they could go in two different directions. They could simply

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Speaker 1: file a complaint with the World Trade Organization, which would

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Speaker 1: be a more multilateral traditional way of proceeding. But the

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Speaker 1: president could also take action himself outside of the w

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Speaker 1: t O and impose again, as I mentioned, tariffs on

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Speaker 1: Chinese products. Andrew, was this a fairly measured response from Beijing?

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Speaker 1: It said it will quote resort to all proper measures. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's a that's a good question. I'm still learning myself

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Speaker 1: to interpret Beijing's responses. I mean, I think that so far,

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Speaker 1: uh it. I think it fits into the pattern so

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Speaker 1: far of Beijing not being bated by the presents provocations

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Speaker 1: on trade. Um, you know, I think the Chinese want

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Speaker 1: to try to keep things on and even keel that's

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Speaker 1: so far what they've done. I mean, they said that

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Speaker 1: they would defend themselves. I think that that was probably expected, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, and they emphasize that the two countries have

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Speaker 1: shared interests in in in maintaining strong economic ties. So

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Speaker 1: so yes, I would I would call it measured. And

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Speaker 1: what's been the domestic reaction. I'm I'm interested both in

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Speaker 1: what what Republicans and Democrats are saying and what what

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Speaker 1: U S companies are saying. Yeah, you know, it's interesting because, uh,

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Speaker 1: most Republicans are supportive. Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in

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Speaker 1: the Senate, actually said that Trump should have hit the partner.

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Speaker 1: And it's actually uh is actually saying that Trump is

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Speaker 1: all all action and I'll talk and no action on China.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think America, I think that American company

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Speaker 1: support this more than you might think. I think there's

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Speaker 1: been a bit of a sea change in the last

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Speaker 1: few years, again with more tech companies going into China.

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Speaker 1: I think there's actually more support in the corporate sector

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Speaker 1: than you might gather from there from the public. Statements

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Speaker 1: of CEOs just in about thirty seconds, Andrew, is the situation,

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Speaker 1: the growing tension over the threat of North Korea using

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Speaker 1: nuclear weapons playing into this in any way? Yeah? Absolutely.

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Speaker 1: You know this is these two countries are not playing

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Speaker 1: on a single chessboard. They're playing on multiple chess boards.

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Speaker 1: North Korea is on one chess board, trades on another chessboard.

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Speaker 1: You know, there's other issues on different chessboards. And each

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Speaker 1: move that the present makes on one board impacts the

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Speaker 1: US position on the other board. So this is an

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Speaker 1: extremely nuanced, complex relationship. The U. S and China are

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Speaker 1: arrivals in some sense, their allies in many other senses.

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Speaker 1: So so it has to be seen with the broader

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Speaker 1: context of the relationship. I want to thank uh Andrew

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Speaker 1: maida Bloomberg News Global trade reporter, for joining me here

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Speaker 1: in the nine and nine one news room to talk

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Speaker 1: about Donald Trump's step towards a confrontation with China over

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Speaker 1: its intellectual property policies.