China to penalise an American automaker for monopolistic behavior

China is going to slap a penalty on an unnamed U.S. car manufacturer for monopolistic behavior, the official China Daily paper reported on Wednesday, referring to a senior state planning official.

Investigators discovered the United States automaker had advised suppliers to fix prices from 2014, Zhang Handong, director of the National Development and Reform Commission’s price supervision bureau, stated.

Report of the penalty comes at a time of unpredictability for China-U.S. relations after the election victory of Donald Trump for the next U.S. president. Zhang said that no one should “reach anything inappropriate” into the timing or target of the penalty.