WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 -- The Trump administration is weighing a sweeping plan to restrict software-powered exports to China, including items ranging from laptops to jet engines, in retaliation for Beijing's latest rare earth export controls, according to US officials and sources briefed on the deliberations.

The proposed measure, not yet finalized, would target global shipments containing US software or produced using US software, effectively extending US export authority beyond its borders - a move seen as a dramatic escalation in the trade confrontation between Washington and Beijing.

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President Donald Trump earlier this month threatened to bar "critical software" exports...