China hits back with 125 per cent tariffs on US goods

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 U.S. 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," the Chinese finance ministry was quoted by Reuters as saying.
“If the US insists on continuing to infringe upon China's interests in a substantive way, China will resolutely take countermeasures and fight to the end,” the ministry said. “If the US continues to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, China will ignore it,” the Chinese finance ministry added.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.
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". "China and Europe should fulfil their international responsibilities... and jointly resist unilateral bullying practices," state news agency Xinhua quoted Jinping as saying. In addition, China added 12 US companies to its export control list and placed six others on its unreliable entities list in response to actions taken by Trump.