The White House may be prepared to take its toughest stance ever on Chinese cybertheft by considering economic sanctions against companies and individuals who have benefited from stealing U.S. trade secrets.

President Barack Obama has not yet made a final call on the measures, but several unidentified administration officials told the Washington Post that they could be announced within the next two weeks. While sanctions over cybertheft would be an unprecedented step, they would be in line with the president's earlier executive order calling for action against cyber attacks, labeling them a "national emergency."

The Washington Post's revelations, meanwhile, come at an awkward time for the administration because Obama is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping for a highly anticipated state visit in September. Some officials within the government argued that sanctions would only create unnecessary friction between Washington and Beijing.

"Let's be honest, I can see the White House saying, 'Let's not do [sanctions] while the head of state is here," one unnamed administration official told the newspaper. "I can see maybe they'd shift the timing by a few days ... but I can't imagine they'd shift the overall decision."

Even if sanctions were to be eventually applied, the People's Republic's behavior may not necessarily change as a result, experts argue. But "done in tandem with other diplomatic pressure, law enforcement, military, intelligence, then you can actually start to impose costs and indicate that there are costs to the bilateral relationship," an unnamed source told the Washington Post

Without directly naming China, Obama had warned of the "increasing prevalence and severity of malicious cyber-enabled activities" in his April 1 executive order, which directed the government to impose financial sanctions against foreigners waging cyberattacks against the United States.

"Cyberthreats pose one of the most serious economic and national security challenges to the United States, and my administration is pursuing a comprehensive strategy to confront them," the president noted in a statement published on Medium. "These threats can emanate from a range of sources and target our critical infrastructure, our companies, and our citizens. This executive order offers a targeted tool for countering the most significant cyberthreats that we face."