China ‘ready to hit back’ at Donald Trump’s tariffs
US protectionist trade action will be met with an immediate response, Beijing warns
China will not shy away from hitting back swiftly at US trade action, Chinese officials and analysts warned on Friday, just hours before Washington announced plans to impose hefty American tariffs on billions worth of Chinese products.
After a week dominated by the US-North Korean summit in Singapore, diplomatic attention refocused on trade tensions between China and the United States, with reports that US President Donald Trump had approved the imposition of 25 per cent tariffs on US$50 billion worth of Chinese goods.
The Office of the US Trade Representative confirmed the move about 8.30pm Chinese time, with the release of the final list of affected products.
China’s foreign ministry had earlier said it was ready to take immediate retaliatory action.
“We want to reiterate that, if the US takes unilateral and protectionist actions which hurt China’s interests we will lose no time to respond and to take necessary measures to defend our own rights,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Friday.
China has warned that all agreements reached during previous trade talks, including huge purchases of US agricultural and energy products, will be scrapped if the US goes ahead with the tariffs and other trade measures.
