China on Friday announced an increase in tariffs on US goods from 84 per cent to 125 per cent, shortly after President Donald Trump unveiled a steep hike in duties on Chinese imports, raising them to a staggering 145 per cent. However, it also noted that it would not retaliated any further.
"The US imposition of abnormally high tariffs on China seriously violates international and economic trade rules, basic economic laws and common sense and is completely unilateral bullying and coercion," news agency Reuters quoted the Chinese finance ministry as saying.
The ministry also said that it would "resolutely take countermeasures" and fight to the end if the US insisted on continuing to infringe on China's interests in a substantive way.
It also made it clear that the country would not retaliate any further even if the US continues to import additional tariffs on Chinese goods. "If the US continues to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, China will ignore it," the ministry said.
The hike followed sustained pressure from the White House on the world's second-largest economy and leading US import source, which was specifically targeted for an additional tariff increase — despite Washington easing similar 'reciprocal' duties on other nations.
The White House clarified that Trump's 90-day tariff 'pause' excludes China, which will instead face a sharp increase in US tariffs, rising to 125 per cent.
In his first reaction to Trump's tariff onslaught, Chinese premier Xi Jinping urged the European Union to join forces with Beijing to resist what he called "unilateral bullying".
