White House officials had to scramble to stop Trump from doubling his China tariffs: CNBC

President Donald Trump's own economic advisers had to scramble to convince him against doubling his tariffs on Chinese goods, reports CNBC's Kayla Tausche.

According to Tausche, Trump was so angry late last month when he learned that China had increased tariffs on American goods that he wanted to double the tariffs he had planned to implement.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, however, were alarmed by this proposal on fears over its impact on economic growth. Tausche reports that the two men scrambled to stop the president by recruiting a group of "several" CEOs to call him and warn him of the dire economic consequences that doubling tariffs would have.

This apparently got the president to back down, and he instead decided to raise all tariffs placed on Chinese goods by just five percentage points.

When the White House told reporters the following day that Trump had second thoughts about not raising the tariffs even further, they were seemingly telling the truth, reports Tausche.