Trade War Intensifies as China Retaliates With Tariffs on US Goods Worth $60 Billion

The trade spat between the two biggest economies of the world has intensified. After the US president Donald Trump imposed a new round of tariffs on Chinese imports on Monday, China was provoked to retaliate.

On Monday, the US administration said that it will be levying new round of tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese products at the rate of 10 percent on 24 September. These would go up to 25 percent by January next year, said Trump, if Beijing refuses to offer trade concessions.

In response, China's finance ministry on Tuesday in a statement said that it would be imposing levies at the rate of 5 to 10 percent on 5,207 US products (ranging from certain types of aircraft to cocoa powder) from 24 September instead of the earlier proposed 5, 10, 20 and 25 percent.

"China is forced to respond to US unilateralism and trade protectionism, and has no choice but to respond with its own tariffs," the ministry said in its statement.

The US has imposed tariffs on Chinese goods worth $50 billion till now to force China to make changes to its trade, technology transfer and high-tech industrial subsidy policies.

While both sides said they were open to talks, Trump on his Twitter handle accused Beijing of targeting rural voters who had supported his presidency by hitting agricultural goods.

"China has openly stated that they are actively trying to impact and change our election by attacking our farmers, ranchers and industrial workers because of their loyalty to me," he wrote.

It was not clear what statement from China he was referring to in his post. Earlier, a short video was published by Beijing suggesting that farmers would not vote for Trump if their incomes were hurt by his trade policies.