The sudden decision by United States president Donald Trump to impose a 10 per cent import tariffs on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese imports into the country will be fought back by China, authorities said on Friday.

The sudden announcement has apparently brought to an end a process of negotiations on trade between the two countries that has been ongoing since the last month.

China would take “necessary countermeasures” to safeguard itself, said China’s new ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, and added that the latest tariff move by Trump was as “an irrational, irresponsible act.”

“China’s position is very clear that if U.S. wishes to talk, then we will talk, if they want to fight, then we will fight,” Zhang told reporters in New York. He also hinted that the cooperation between the countries on dealing with North Korea could be affected by the trade tensions.

While saying the much more needs to be done by China fast to arrive at a trade agreement, Trump also reissued an earlier threat of successively increasing tariffs on Chinese products if nothing was by Beijing to come to a trade agreement. “We can’t just go and make an even deal with China. We have to go and make a better deal with China,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

The global financial markets were taken by surprise and rattled by the sudden declaration of Trump on Thursday about the new tariff plans which he said would be levied starting September 1. This announcement also brought a sudden end to a temporary break in the trade war between the two largest economies of the world which has slowed down global trade and upended global supply chains.

China did not intend to budge from its stance on trade policies and practices in the trade war with the US which has been ongoing for 13 months now, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying earlier on Friday. “We won’t accept any maximum pressure, intimidation or blackmail,” Hua told a news briefing in Beijing. “On the major issues of principle we won’t give an inch,” she said, adding that China hoped the United States would “give up its illusions” and return to negotiations based on mutual respect and equality.

According to analysts, there can be a number of measures that China can take as a retaliatory measure which would can include imposing of fresh tariff on US goods, a stop on exporting of rare earth materials to China which are crucial in the manufacture of a wide range of products including military equipment and consumer electronics and China could also impose punitive penalties on American companies operating in China.

In case Chinese President Xi Jinping fails to move more quickly to strike a trade deal, the US will also further raise tariffs, Trump has also threatened.

The imposition of 10 per cent tariffs on rest $300 billion Chinese goods imported into the US was announced by Trump through a series of tweets following a report by US trade representative about no developments being made in the trade talks between US and China was made at the Shanghai, China meeting.

(Adapted from ChannelNewsAsia.com)

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