China vows to retaliate after US imposes fresh tariffs

A day after the United States announced 25 per cent tariff on USD 50 billion of Chinese tech goods, China on Wednesday said that it did not want a trade war and remained undeterred.

"We want to reiterate that we don't want a trade war, but we aren't afraid of fighting one," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a briefing on Wednesday, CNN reported.

"If the US insists on acting arbitrarily and recklessly, China will take firm and powerful measures to safeguard its own legitimate rights," Hua said.

On Tuesday, the White House announced that on June 15, it would provide details of the Chinese products affected by the new tariffs, which would come into effect "soon".

The Donald Trump administration stated that it would crack down on "illegal" Chinese trade practices by June 30.

Earlier this month, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who was on a visit to China over trade negotiations said that the trade war with China was "on hold," with both sides agreeing to remove the proposed tariffs.

The latest move to announce the tariffs comes ahead of US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's visit to China next month over the same.

The United States and China have been tied-up in a constant bilateral trade war.

On March 23, Trump had imposed massive trade tariffs amounting to USD 60 billion on China, in an effort to stop the latter from stealing "intellectual property" from American companies.

In retaliation, China threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on USD 50 billion worth of US exports.

However, none of the tariffs above came into effect.