dave? indeed, paula hancocks live in seoul this morning. thank you. 18 minutes past the hour. china is threatening to retaliate now that president trump s chief trade negotiator has been asked to determine whether an investigation of beijing s trade practices is needed. the move could pave the way for the president to impose tariffs on chinese imports. the administration turning the screws on china in order to get more cooperation on the north korea crisis. let s bring in david mckensingtony from hong kong. china might be mckenzie from hong kong. china might be complaining, but is this less harsh than people expect from the trump administration? reporter: good morning, yes, i think so. i think many people expected the investigation to be launched straight away. the trade representative of trump has about a year to investigate possible infringement of u.s. intellectual property rights within china. something people have complained for for a very long time. i think it s sort of s
recent study. there s a lot of pressure on the trump administration to help solve the problem. they are looking at the big picture, i think, and want to be deliberate about it. the chinese say that it s such a complex economy, complex linkages between the u.s. and chinese economy that any push against china could result in a cascade effect that would ultimately, they say, hurt the u.s. consumer. it s a complicated issue, business yes, there s been complaints for a long time. let s be very fair here. american consumers for years have had very low prices because of america s trade relationship with china. companies complain, but boy, they all are i mean, they get big revenue in china, as well. it will be interesting to see, david, if there s anything different this time around from prior administrations when they ve tried to address these prickly issues with the chinese. thank you very much for that in hong kong this morning. tenuous times in the regions. a trade war with china at