US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose import tariffs on an additional 200bn dollars’ worth of goods from China in a growing trade row.The President said that the 10% tariffs on imports would come into effect if China “refuses to change its practices”.
This would be a major escalation of the trade dispute between China and the USA, and sparked further falls on stock markets.
China responded by accusing the USA of “blackmail”, raising fears of a serious trade war.
The commerce ministry of China said that the country would take “qualitative” and “quantitative” measures and “fight back firmly” against additional import tariff measures by the US government.
The President insists that China has been unfairly benefiting from a trade imbalance with the US for years.