CHINA has announced fresh countermeasures to US president Donald Trump's latest tariffs in an escalating trade war between the two nations.
On Friday, China announced it would raise tariffs on US goods from 84% to 125%, starting on Saturday.
However, it indicated it would not raise tariff levels any further as there was “no longer any possibility of market acceptance for US goods exported to China”.
The trade war is intensifying between the countries while Trump has hit pause on tariffs for other nations.
It comes after Trump increased levies on Chinese goods to 145% on Thursday.
When he announced on Wednesday that China faced 125% tariffs, he did not include a 20% tariff on China tied to its role in fentanyl production.
“The US alternately raising abnormally high tariffs on China has become a numbers game, which has no practical economic significance, and will become a joke in the history of the world economy,” a commerce ministry spokesman said in a statement announcing the countermeasure.
“However, if the US insists on continuing to substantially infringe on China's interests, China will resolutely counter and fight to the end.”
China's commerce ministry said it was filing another legal case with the World Trade Organisation on the raising of US tariffs.
China’s foreign ministry said: “Given that there is no longer any possibility of market acceptance for US goods exported to China under the current tariff levels, if the US side subsequently continues to impose tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, the Chinese side will pay no attention to it.”
The dollar plunged further following the news, hitting a three-year low against the euro, which was worth more than $1.14.
The pound surged more than 1.1% against the US currency to more than $1.31.
