China promises retaliation if US imposes more tariffs

BEIJING: China’s government says it will retaliate if Washington goes ahead with more tariff increases following President Donald Trump’s comment that he was considering extending penalties to more Chinese imports. A foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said Monday that Beijing “will definitely take countermeasures to safeguard its legitimate rights” if Trump goes ahead with a new round of tariffs.

Beijing and Washington have imposed 25 percent import duties on 50 billion of each other’s goods in a battle over technology policy. The Trump administration is poised to decide whether to extend that to another 200 billion of Chinese goods. Trump said Friday he was considering penalties on an additional 267 billion list of Chinese goods. That would extend tariff increases to nearly all of China’s exports to the United States. PTI