China threatens to retaliate if US goes ahead with planned tariff hike

China on Thursday threatened retaliation if Washington steps up their war over trade and technology by going ahead with planned September 1 tariff hikes on additional Chinese imports.

Beijing will take unspecified "necessary countermeasures," the Cabinet said. It gave no details.

President Donald Trump has said he plans to impose 10 per cent duties on an additional $300 billion of Chinese imports.

The Chinese announcement made no mention of Trump's decision Wednesday to postpone penalties on about 60 per cent of those goods until December.

Their lopsided trade balance means China has almost run out of US imports for tariff hikes following previous increases in retaliation for American punitive duties.

But Beijing already has extended penalties for US companies by delaying customs clearance for their goods and delaying issuing licenses in finance and other fields.