China hints it may retaliate against US for new tariffs

President Trump escalated a trade war with China.

June 19, 2018, 8:30 AM

BEIJING -- China’s Commerce Ministry on Tuesday criticized President Trump’s latest threat of tariffs, calling it an “act of extreme pressure and blackmail.”

Trump on Monday threatened to impose additional tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods following an announcement last week that he would seek to slap a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion in Chinese imports to the U.S.

“If the United States loses its rationality and unveils another list of Chinese products for additional tariffs, China will have no choice but to take comprehensive measures combining quantitative and qualitative ones to resolutely strike back," the ministry said in a statement.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at a joint news conference held after their meeting in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2017.
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at a joint news conference held after their meeting in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2017. The two leaders agreed to keep enforcing U.N. sanctions on North Korea until it rids itself of nuclear weapons while pledging to address the billowing U.S. trade deficit with China.
Kyodo News via Getty Images

Trump said the tariffs were “essential to preventing further unfair transfers of American technology and intellectual property to China, which will protect American jobs.”

He added, “After the legal process is complete, these tariffs will go into effect if China refuses to change its practices, and also if it insists on going forward with the new tariffs that it has recently announced.”

PHOTO: In this file photo, shipping containers are stacked in the Kwai Tsing Terminals in Hong Kong, China, Aug. 28, 2013.
In this file photo, shipping containers are stacked in the Kwai Tsing Terminals in Hong Kong, China, Aug. 28, 2013.
Jerome Favre/EPA via Shutterstock, FILE

Beijing responded to Trump's announcement last week by applying tariffs to 659 U.S. products, including agricultural products, cars and marine products.

Companies like Apple are worried China could cause delays in supply chains and increase scrutiny of products under the guise of national security concerns, The New York Times reported.

PHOTO: In this Monday, April 2, 2018, file photo, women push a shopping cart near nuts and sweets imported from the United States and other countries at a supermarket in Beijing.
In this Monday, April 2, 2018, file photo, women push a shopping cart near nuts and sweets imported from the United States and other countries at a supermarket in Beijing.
Andy Wong/AP, FILE

Ford Motor is already facing delays at Chinese ports, according to Reuters.

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