U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s complaints about China¡¯s trade practices have increased the odds that a 25-year-old U.S. law that established free trade with Beijing is repealed, trade experts have said, a move that could raise tariffs to 61% on average.

Buried in the barrage of first-day executive orders was an instruction from Trump to his commerce secretary and trade representative to ¡°assess legislative proposals¡± regarding Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China.

The designation, which generally deters the U.S. government from imposing tariffs on trade partners, was extended to China in 2000, in a major move that opened the floodgates of Chinese exports into the United States.