Trump administration will use rhetoric and indictments to challenge China's behavior, complicating trade war

In a move that will not be welcome news for American farmers and other exporters to China, "The Trump administration is preparing a series of actions this week to call out Beijing for what it says are China’s continued efforts to steal America’s trade secrets and advanced technologies and compromise sensitive government and corporate computers," report Ellen Nakashima and David Lynch of The Washington Post.

"In perhaps the most significant move, the Justice Department is expected to announce the indictments of multiple hackers suspected of working for a Chinese intelligence service and participating in a long-running espionage campaign that targeted U.S. networks," the Post reports. "The announcements represent a major broadside against China over its mounting aggression against the West and its attempts to displace the United States as the world’s leader in technology, officials said. They are part of an intensifying government-wide approach to confronting China and would come as the two countries have reached a momentary detente in their trade war."

Ely Ratner, executive vice president of the Center for a New American Security, a think tank, said tit-for-tat tariffs are “a bit of a sideshow to the broader geopolitical competition that is almost inevitably going to heat up.” Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said, “People don’t really understand the depth or breadth of the Chinese government’s actions, so this will be an important statement by the administration. This is long overdue.”