China shot back after President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that the U.S. would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on $300 billion in Chinese goods starting next month.
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Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called Trump’s move a “serious violation” and warned Beijing would have to take “necessary countermeasures” if the tariffs were imposed on Chinese goods.
“We don’t want to fight, but we are not afraid to fight,” Hua told a briefing. “China will not accept any extreme pressure, intimidation and blackmail.”
Chinese shares plummeted, and the yuan, its currency, fell to its lowest since November in early trading
The trade war between China and the U.S., the world’s two largest economies, has rocked markets across the world for the last year and a half.
“We thought we had a deal with China three months ago, but sadly, China decided to re-negotiate the deal prior to signing,” wrote Trump in a series of tweets.
He sent the tweets after an 11:30 a.m. ET meeting at the White House, in which Trump’s trade team briefed the president on how recent negotiations in China had gone, CNBC reported. His messages suggest Trump is frustrated with China’s lack of follow-through.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have just returned from trade talks in Shanghai, where little progress appeared to have been made. The negotiations reportedly ended early. A new meeting has been set up for September, the White House said earlier this week.
“More recently, China agreed to buy agricultural product from the U.S. in large quantities, but did not do so. Additionally, my friend President Xi said that he would stop the sale of Fentanyl to the United States — this never happened, and many Americans continue to die!” Trump tweeted.
Trump said that although the talks were “continuing” the U.S. would start on Sept. 1 putting a “small additional tariff” of 10 percent on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese goods coming into the U.S. This does not include the $250 billion on which he has already imposed a tariff of 25 percent, he added.
