WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday that could impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of imports from China, although his action was far removed from threats that could have ignited a global trade war.

Under the terms of the memorandum, Trump will target the Chinese imports only after a consultation period, a measure that will give industry lobbyists and legislators a chance to water down a proposed target list which runs to 1,300 products.

China will also have space to respond to Trump's actions, reducing the risk of immediate dramatic retaliation from Beijing, and Trump struck an emollient tone as he started speaking, saying "I view them as a friend."

"We have spoken to China and we are in the middle of negotiations," Trump said, adding that loss of American jobs from unfair trade was one of the main reasons he had been elected in 2016. The United States runs a $375 billion goods trade deficit with China.

Washington will also pursue alleged breaches of intellectual property law by China through the World Trade Organization, a body that has repeatedly drawn the ire of the administration but which could provide a resolution that avoids a trade war.

Global stocks had sold off on Thursday on the expectation of tough action from Trump, with US markets down as much as 2 percent, but recovered somewhat after the announcement.

Following Trump's announcement on Thursday, the US Trade Representative's office will present a list of products that could be targeted, primarily from the high-tech sector. There will then be a 60-day consultation period before definitive action will be put into force.

White House officials told a briefing ahead of the trade announcement that the administration was eyeing tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods. They said the figure was based on a calculation of the impact on the profits of US companies that had been forced to hand over their intellectual property as the price of doing business in China.

There was no explanation of the difference between the numbers provided by White House officials in the briefing and Trump's $60 billion.

"Many of these areas are those where China has sought to acquire advantage through the unfair acquisition and forced technology transfer from US companies ... establishing its own competitive advantage in an unfair manner," Everett Eissenstat, deputy director of the National Economic Council, told reporters.

In addition, Trump will also direct the US Treasury to propose measures that could restrict Chinese investments in the United States, Eissenstat said.

The tariffs and investment restrictions will be imposed under the US Trade Representative's "Section 301" investigation into alleged misappropriation of US intellectual property by China.

Eissenstat said the investigation clearly demonstrates unfair practices by China, which forces US investors to turn over key technologies to Chinese firms.

EU leaders give

cautious welcome

European Union leaders gave a cautious welcome on Thursday to news that Trump had decided not to apply tariffs to European steel and aluminum but said they were waiting for Washington to confirm that decision.

US.Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had earlier told a Senate committee hearing that Trump had chosen to "pause" the imposition of metals tariffs for Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico South Korea and "Europe".

His comments prompted EU leaders arriving in Brussels for a summit to postpone a discussion about transatlantic trade tensions until later in the evening. The United States is set to begin charging import duties of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum from Friday.

One senior EU official described Lighthizer's announcement as "welcome, in line with our expectations", adding: "But we'll see whether this is officially confirmed."

The exemption from tariffs, if it is confirmed, followed EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom's trip to Washington for talks with Lighthizer and US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

Briefing EU ambassadors and the European Parliament on Thursday morning, she had indicated there was a greater willingness to find a solution to avert a trade war.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that Europe had shown itself united in its support of free trade and rejection of protectionism. French President Emmanuel Macron said he expected a final announcement on US tariffs late evening Brussels time.

"My wish is that we can continue to preserve international trade rules that are good for all and that the powers that have contributed to putting them in place will assure that they are respected," he said.

The European Commission has proposed that, if tariffs are imposed, the bloc should challenge them at the World Trade Organization, consider measures to prevent metal flooding into Europe and impose import duties on US products to "rebalance" EU-US trade.

The EU leaders' second topic on Thursday, taxation, also threatens to expose transatlantic strains. The European Commission on Wednesday proposed rules to make digital companies pay more tax, with US tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon set to foot a large chunk of a potential 5 billion euro ($6.1 billion) bill.

EU Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici brushed off accusations that he was going after rich American tech companies to enrich EU coffers and France, Germany, Italy, Britain and Spain welcomed the proposals in a joint statement.

However, some smaller countries fear the proposed tax would undermine their ability to attract multinationals and see the measure as more likely to shift tax revenue to bigger EU countries rather than raising more money. — Reuters