China Vows To Fight Washington On Tariff Hike

China's government accused the Trump administration of hurting its credibility by acting erratically on trade and vowed on Wednesday to fight back if Washington goes ahead with a threatened tariff hike.

A foreign ministry spokeswoman complained the U.S. decision to renew a threat to raise duties on a US$50 billion list of Chinese goods conflicts with an agreement in mid-May aimed at settling that dispute.

Treasury Steven Mnuchin said then that the conflict was "on hold" after Beijing promised to buy more U.S. goods to help narrow its multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States.

The spokeswoman Hua Chunying declined to say whether Tuesday's announcement might disrupt plans for Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to visit Beijing for talks starting on Saturday. The American Embassy said a delegation of trade, agriculture and treasury officials had arrived in the Chinese capital to make preparations.

Hua gave no indication of whether Beijing planned to act on its own threat to retaliate by raising duties on a US$50 billion list of American goods including beef and soybeans.

"Every flip-flop and U-turn of a country will be simply depleting and squandering its own credibility," Hua said at a regular briefing.

"We do not want a trade war, but we are not afraid of one. We will fight back," she said. "We will definitely take forceful measures to defend our legitimate interests."

The White House announcement had said it also would impose curbs on Chinese investment and purchases of high-tech exports. (AP)