Is US trade probe a pressure tactic for China's action on DPRK?

US President Donald Trump will sign an executive memo on

Monday ordering US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to determine

whether to investigate China's trade practices, triggering concerns that

Washington may take unilateral moves harming China-US trade and

economic ties.

The move comes amid rising tensions

over the Korean Peninsula as Washington and Pyongyang has threatened

possible military action against each other, and one week after China

voted to impose tougher economic sanctions on Pyongyang in the UN

Security Council.

The possible inquiry will be under Section 301 of the

Trade Act of 1974, which allows the US president to unilaterally impose

tariffs or other trade restrictions to protect US industries from

"unfair trade practices" of foreign countries. The provision has fallen

into disuse after the creation of the World Trade Organization.

Why does Trump make the order now?

It

has been two weeks since media first reported that Trump has been

mulling such an investigation under the 1974 Trade Act's Section 301.

It

was expected earlier this month but Trump made the announcement on

Saturday, postponing the decision of the probe on Monday, as the White

House pressed for China's efforts on Korean Peninsula.

Even if a decision is made to start such an

investigation, itcould take as long as a year to conclude, an

administration official said. He said it would be premature to speculate

on actions that could eventually be taken against China, and added that

the issue could be resolved through "negotiated agreement."

The

president has publicly linked the issue of trade fairness with his

calls on China to pressure DPRK to drop its weapons program.

"We

lose hundreds of billions of dollars a year on trade with China. They

know how I feel," he told reporters on Thursday. "If China helps us, I

feel a lot different toward trade."

But will trade tariff be a proper tactic?

"This

action would represent a sharp escalation of pressure on China on two

fronts – the China-US bilateral trade relationship, and China’s role in

managing the volatile situation on the Korean peninsula,” said Eswar

Prasad, a professor in the Dyson School at Cornell University, and a

senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Michael Froman, former USTR under the Obama

administration, warned that the US could face retaliation if the country

moves away from resolving trade disputes through the WTO and instead

starts taking unilateral actions.

"A decision to

trigger Section 301 today is problematic because it would provide

additional fuel to the already simmering argument that the Trump

administration is undoing the American commitment to rules-based trade

and decades of work to establish international cooperation," argued

Bown, who worked as a senior economist for international trade and

investment in the White House Council of Economic Advisers and the World

Bank.