The US threatens China in March with a commercial measure

The Office of the US Trade Representative has officially set the date for a tariff increase on Chinese goods worth 200 billion US dollars to 12.01 am EST (0501 GMT) on March 2.

The original date to increase the tariff was from 10 percent to 25 percent in January.

The change did not affect the already applied tariff of 25 percent on China's $ 50 billion worth of technology goods, including semiconductors, other electronic components, devices and vehicles.

The statement on the change was added to documents related to an investigation conducted by the US Trade Representative Office into the Chinese IP practices that served as the basis for US tariffs on Chinese goods that led to retaliation from Beijing.

The statement attributed the change to the new US-China talks "aimed at ending the procedures, policies and practices covered by the investigation" after a meeting on December 1 between US Presidents Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires.