Trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies are escalating as China warns it will counter United States protectionism "to the end, and at any cost".
The statement from Beijing came yesterday after US President Donald Trump ordered his administration to consider tariffs on an additional US$100 billion in Chinese goods on Thursday, sending US stock futures tumbling.
The US president cited "China's unfair retaliation" in response to his list of proposed tariffs earlier this week covering $50 billion in Chinese products.
"The Chinese side will follow suit to the end and at any cost, and will firmly attack, using new comprehensive countermeasures, to firmly defend the interest of the nation and its people," the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement on its website yesterday.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump yesterday said the US had already lost any trade war, as he defended his proposed tariffs against Chinese goods, saying the move might cause "a little pain" but the US will be better off in the long run.
"We don't have a trade war, we've lost the trade war," Mr Trump said in a radio interview with New York radio show, 77 WABC's Bernie & Sid.
"I'm not saying there won't be a little pain." Agencies
