Business Notes Trade

What the bloody massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square failed to provoke may now come to pass because of an argument about . . . Mickey Mouse. Though the Bush Administration declined to punish China for the 1989 crackdown, it announced plans last week to unleash retaliatory tariffs worth up to $1.5 billion on Chinese exports. The reason: disregard by the Chinese for U.S. patents and copyrights covering books, audio and video recordings, computer software and such quintessentially American creations as Walt Disney's favorite rodent. The Chinese rarely pay for the use of such "intellectual property," resulting in serious losses to U.S. businesses.

American officials view China's six-month-old copyright law as weak and have been pushing for tougher compliance in talks that went nowhere. With Congress apparently bent on enacting its own restrictions, the Administration will now move to recoup losses from Beijing's intellectual poaching by imposing tariffs on such Chinese goods as beer, watches and athletic shoes.