WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is setting the stage to unveil tough new trade penalties against China early next year, moving closer to an oft-promised crackdown that some U.S. business executives fear will ignite a costly battle.

Corporate officials and analysts closely tracking trade policy said that President Donald Trump is expected to take concrete actions on disputes involving China within weeks.

Trump is due by the end of January to render his first decision in response to petitions from U.S. companies seeking tariffs or import quotas on Chinese solar panels and washing machines manufactured in China and its neighbors.

U.S. trade officials in both cases have determined that domestic manufacturers have been injured by surging imports and have recommended that he erect new trade barriers.

China is Minnesota’s biggest export market outside North America, according to the state Department of Employment and Economic Development. Companies in the state sold $615 million of goods to customers in China during the third quarter, including $173 million worth of machinery and $167 million worth of medical equipment.

Trump could also order new limits on Chinese investment in the U.S. or raise tariffs unilaterally — a likely violation of U.S. commitments to the World Trade Organization — pending the outcome of a broader investigation into Beijing’s alleged failure to protect foreign companies’ intellectual property rights, analysts say.

White House action is also due on a Commerce Department probe triggered by worries about the national security impact of rising imports of Chinese steel and aluminum.

“Their intent is to bring shock and awe,” said Scott Kennedy, an expert on Chinese trade at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “They’re not kidding around.”

On Dec. 6, Robert Lighthizer, the president’s chief trade negotiator, had a contentious discussion of administration trade policy with members of the US-China Business Council’s board of directors, which includes chief executives of companies such as Chubb Insurance and General Motors, said three executives familiar with the session.

During the closed-door briefing for chief executives with business in China, Lighthizer said that U.S. complaints about Chinese trade practices could not be resolved simply by additional talks with Beijing, and he appeared indifferent to concerns that the administration’s hard line risked rupturing a $600 billion annual trade relationship.

A Lighthizer spokeswoman did not reply to a request for comment. The business group also declined to comment.

It’s not yet clear how extensive the administration actions will be. Trump’s repeated campaign vows to retaliate against China for policies that he says contributed to the loss of millions of U.S. jobs have yet to translate into concrete action. During a visit to Beijing last month, the president blamed his White House predecessors rather than Chinese President Xi Jinping for the yawning bilateral trade deficit.

That gap has only grown since Trump became president, despite his “America First” rhetoric. Through the first 10 months of this year, the U.S. incurred a $309 billion trade deficit with China, up from $289 billion during the same period one year earlier.

“So far, it’s been the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy turned on its head: Speak loudly and carry a small stick,” said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a nonprofit established by the United Steelworkers union and major steelmakers.

Still, in recent weeks, there have been mounting signs of the president’s intention to act. In a new national security strategy, Trump earlier this month described China as a strategic competitor and said that when it comes to trade, the U.S. “will no longer turn a blind eye to violations, cheating or economic aggression.”

The White House document was issued less than a month after the United States formally told the WTO that China did not qualify as a “market economy” under the trade body’s rules.

In a dispute with the European Union, China insists that it was promised the designation by now under the terms of its 2001 membership in the WTO. The European Union and the United States insist that the Chinese state’s role in the economy remains too large to justify granting China market economy treatment. As a nonmarket economy, China is subject to higher anti-dumping duties under U.S. trade law, making the issue more than a matter of bragging rights.

The president also previewed the tougher line in a speech last month in Danang, Vietnam, saying that the U.S. now expects its trade “partners will faithfully follow the rules just like we do.”

U.S. officials say that China has not lived up to the bargain struck when it joined the WTO. Market liberalization has slowed or reversed, especially since Xi became Communist Party general secretary in 2012. State-owned enterprises get preferential financing and permit approvals and are formidable competitors for multinational corporations.

Total financial flows into the U.S. from China topped $46 billion last year, almost 10 times the figure from 2011.

U.S. business leaders anticipate a difficult 2018. “Our sense,” said Jeremie Waterman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “is that everything is on the table.”