China announced Friday that it will impose tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. imports if the Trump administration follows through on its threat to further escalate the trade war between the two countries.
The tariffs, ranging from 5 to 25 percent, will be imposed on more than 5,000 categories of imports should the Trump administration finalize its plan to levy tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese goods, Beijing announced late Friday.
“The implementation date of the taxation measures will be subject to the actions of the US, and China reserves the right to continue to introduce other countermeasures,” the Chinese Ministry of Finance said in a statement. “Any unilateral threat or blackmail will only lead to intensification of conflicts and damage to the interests of all parties.”
The announcement comes days after Trump ordered officials to consider levying a 25 percent tax on $200 billion in Chinese goods, which would come atop the $34 billion in tariffs the administration imposed last month.
“Instead of retaliating, China should address the longstanding concerns about its unfair trading practices, many of which are laid out in USTRs 301 report,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in response to the announcement.
Beijing has thus far retaliated against Trump’s protectionist measures dollar-for-dollar, but due to the yawning trade deficit between the two states, China would run out of goods to tax long before the U.S.
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