White House pledges more action against China in trade war just days after truce declared

President Donald Trump with China's President Xi Jinping. Mr Trump has raised the issue of the trade deficit with his counterpart a number of times (AFP/Getty)

The US will keep taking action against China over trade, the White House has said, just over a week after agreeing to put the dispute "on hold".

Washington will release a list of some $50 billion worth of Chinese goods that will be subject to a 25 per cent tariff on 15 June, the White House said in a statement. The United States will also continue to pursue litigation against China at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

In addition, the Trump administration will announce investment restrictions and “enhanced export controls” for Chinese individuals and entities “related to the acquisition of industrially significant technology” by the end of June.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly bemoaned the US trade deficit with China, one of a number of countries Mr Trump has said has an "unfair" trade relationship with Washington.

Having announced a number of tit-for-tat measures against each other in recent weeks - with both sides proposing punishing 25 per cent tariffs on a number of products - US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on 20 May that negotiations between Washington and Beijing had produced an agreement that meant both countries could step back from imposing them.

“We’re putting the trade war on hold, right now, we have agreed to put the tariffs on hold while we try to execute the framework,” Mr Mnuchin told Fox News. Mr Mnuchin said that the US had won several commitments from Chinese officials that should cut America’s trade deficit with China, which ran at more than $300m (£225m) in 2017.

In a joint statement at the time, Beijing and Washington said they had reached “a consensus on taking effective measures” to cut the US trade deficit in goods with China.

“To meet the growing consumption needs of the Chinese people and the need for high-quality economic development, China will significantly increase purchases of United States goods and services,” the statement said. China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua, said the statement was essentially a vow “not to launch a trade war against each other”.

However, while the announcements eased worries about an escalating trade war between world's two largest economies, Mr Trump also said last week that any deal between Washington and Beijing would need "a different structure," fuelling uncertainty about the long-term status of the agreement.