Trump is raising the stakes in trade war with China, floats the possibility of $100 billion in additional tariffs

Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, arrive for a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, Saturday, July 8, 2017.

• President Donald Trump may be looking for ways to ratchet up a pending trade war with China.
• The White House said in a statement on Thursday that Trump looking to add an additional $100 billion in tariffs targeting Chinese goods.

President Donald Trump may be looking for ways to ratchet up a pending trade war with China.

The White House said in a statement on Thursday that Trump looking to add an addtional $100 billion in tariffs targeting Chinese goods.

"In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the [US Trade Representative] to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products under which to impose such tariffs," the statement read in part.

The USTR announced a list of roughly 1,300 Chinese goods that would be subject to new US tariffs on Tuesday. Some of those products include steel and aluminum.

China hit back a day later, announcing $50 billion worth of tariffs on American goods, including soybeans, the largest agricultural export to China from the US.

The tariffs will have consequences for a wide swath of American consumers and businesses.

The measures are designed to protect US businesses from Chinese intellectual property theft. But they could also have serious consequences for businesses that use the goods from China - as well as consumers that buy those goods.