US announces tariffs on $50bn in Chinese imports

The Trump administration has announced a 25 per cent tariff on up to 50 billion dollars worth of Chinese imports, escalating a trade tiff with China.

China vowed to retaliate immediately and said the United States (US) had "launched a trade war," CNN Money reported.

The US penalty is designed to punish China for stealing American technology and trade secrets.

"The United States can no longer tolerate losing our technology and intellectual property through unfair economic practices," Trump said.

"We have the great brain power in Silicon Valley, and China and others steal those secrets. We're going to protect those secrets. Those are crown jewels for this country," several media reports stated Trump, as saying on "Fox & Friends."

"There is no trade war. They've taken so much," he added.

The tariffs, which are likely to take effect from July 6, will cover vaguely 1,102 Chinese product lines worth about $50 billion a year, according to the reports.

They will target the Chinese aerospace, robotics, manufacturing and auto industries.

On May 31, the US had announced an imposition of 25 and 10 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium respectively on three of its biggest trading partners - Canada, Mexico and the European Union (EU).

Thereafter, Trudeau dubbed the trade tariffs as 'insulting and unacceptable' and announced that the country would impose its own tariffs on US' goods in retaliation.