The US President will meet with cabinet secretaries and senior advisers as soon as this week to begin finalising decisions on a slew of trade fights.
One administration official said everything from imports of steel and solar panels to Chinese policies regarding intellectual property will be considered.
Senior aides are also laying plans to use Mr Trump’s State of the Union address at the end of the month to flesh out the president’s trade vision and potentially preview a more aggressive posture toward China.
With limited prospects for passing legislation, trade is one of a handful of major policy areas on which the president can act without having to rely on congress.
Multiple officials told Politico internal conversations have moved beyond the basic question of whether Mr Trump should take tough trade steps and are now focused on what precise measures the president should impose.
Mr Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration to his aides that his administration has not taken more aggressive trade steps and he has encouraged his advisers to present him with options that include harsh tariffs on Chinese imports, according to officials.
Speaking in Beijing in November, Mr Trump said the current relationship between the world’s leading economies had been a “very one-sided and unfair one,” before adding “it is just not sustainable”.
Aides said the upcoming closed-door trade meetings with the president will help she more light on his thinking, with officials claiming it remained unclear exactly how aggressive the president was prepared to be.
The news comes as American journalist and Mr Trump biography author Michael Wolff said aides believe he could have detention, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or learning difficulties.
Mr Wolff said fears over the president’s “child-like” behaviour were widespread in the White House along with the belief that Mr Trump is unfit for office.
Mr Trump also appeared to compare himself to Ronald Reagan despite the late Republican president’s family having claimed he developed Alzheimer’s – which went on to kill him – while still in office.
Mr Trump wrote on Twitter: “I’ve had to put up with the fake news from the first day I announced that I would be running for President. Now I have to put up with a fake book, written by a totally discredited author.
“Reagan had the same problem and handled it well. So will I!”