1 The Clinton administration was preparing Saturday to impose tariffs of 100 percent on about dlrs 1 billion in Chinese imports because of a dispute over pirating American computer programs, movies and music recordings in China.
2 U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor was to release a list of Chinese imports targeted, administration officials said.
3 The penalties could spark an all-out trade war between two of the world's biggest trading partners. Chinese officials have vowed to retaliate against American companies if sanctions are imposed.
4 There appeared little possibility that a last-minute compromise could avert the sanctions. U.S. negotiators left Beijing a week ago after talks broke down, and Chinese officials never responded to Kantor's request that one last effort be made to resolve the issue before Saturday's deadline.
5 China's official newspapers on Saturday made no mention of the impending deadline.
6 But China blames the United States for the failure of the trade talks, and has said Beijing would not be pressured by Washington's demands, which it described as going 'beyond the scope of intellectual property.'
7 The administration was expected to target imports worth about dlrs 1 billion, an amount equal to the harm the United States claims American businesses are suffering as a result of the theft of U.S. copyrights and patents.
8 The final list would be drawn from an initial list of dlrs 2.8 billion in Chinese goods that was published a month ago. That list covered a wide range of Chinese imports from electronic products to toys.
9 Congressman Christopher Smith, chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on international operations and human rights, blamed Beijing's reluctance to accept U.S. sanctions threats at face value on the Clinton administration's 'flip-flops' on human rights issues in China.
10 'A country that violates human rights standards with impunity cannot be trusted in contract law,' Smith said in an interview Friday, citing 'significant regression' recently in China's human rights record.
11 On Thursday, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky told a House International Relations subcommittee that 'China must take steps to shut down major infringers of intellectual property rights, it must to undertake serious criminal prosecution of violators.'
12 She also stressed that China must reach agreements that will permit and ensure the long-term enforcement of intellectual property rights and allow sales of legitimate copyrighted products.
13 While China's legal regulations regarding the protection of intellectual property rights are good, there is essentially no enforcement, Barshefsky said.
14 'Piracy is endemic in China. There are 90 to 100 percent piracy rates in computer software, motion pictures, videos, sound recordings and periodicals,' she said.

The penalties could spark an all - out trade war between two of the world ' s biggest trading partners . Chinese officials have vowed to retaliate against American companies if sanctions are imposed .
retaliate
Will the retaliation come in the form of tariffs?