The Trump administration is preparing to impose tariffs on up to $50bn in imports from China within days as its top diplomat heads to Beijing to solicit support for negotiations with North Korea. 

The White House last month said it would on June 15 release a list of products imported from China to be targeted for tariffs in retaliation for what it says is Beijing’s systematic theft of US intellectual property. The move came despite China’s pledge to buy some $70bn in US farm and energy exports and plans for more talks between the world’s two largest economies aimed at avoiding a trade war.

The tariffs were delayed until after President Donald Trump’s Singapore summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un this week as Washington solicited China’s help in bringing North Korea to the negotiating table. Releasing the list would be seen by China as a provocative gesture, with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo due to visit Beijing on Thursday to brief Chinese officials on the Singapore talks.