Trade War Expands as Beijing Retaliates US Tariffs on Chinese Goods

White House in a statement issued on Friday said, "In light of China's theft of intellectual property and technology and its other unfair trade practices, the United States will implement a 25 percent tariff on $50bn of goods from China that contain industrially significant technologies".

Beijing responded within minutes to Washington's announcement, saying they would impose tariff measures "of the same scale and strength".

"China is unwilling to have a trade war, but the Chinese side has no choice but to strongly oppose this, due to the United States' myopic behavior that will harm both parties," the commerce ministry website said.

Earlier on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang told journalists that Beijing would fight back.

"If the US side adopts unilateral measures of protectionism and damages China's interests, then we will respond right away, and take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard our own legitimate rights and interests," Geng said. 

Trump has long vowed to fulfil his campaign pledge to clamp down on what he considers unfair Chinese trading practices.

The first set of tariffs covering about $34bn in imports will come into effect on July 6, a statement issued by the US Trade Representative (USTR) said on Friday.

Tensions could escalate further in the coming weeks. The White House is formulating a plan for restricting Chinese investments in the United States and putting stricter limitations on the types of advanced technology that can be exported to the country. It has said those restrictions will go into effect shortly after they are announced by June 30.