China promises to retaliate if US imposes more tariffs

Beijing — China’s government says it will retaliate if Washington goes ahead with more tariff increases following President Donald Trump’s comment that he was considering extending penalties to more Chinese imports.

A foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said Monday that Beijing “will definitely take countermeasures to safeguard its legitimate rights” if Trump goes ahead with a new round of tariffs.

Beijing and Washington have imposed 25 percent import duties on $50 billion of each other’s goods in a battle over technology policy. The Trump administration is poised to decide whether to extend that to another $200 billion of Chinese goods.

Trump said Friday he was considering penalties on an additional $267 billion list of Chinese goods. That would extend tariff increases to nearly all of China’s exports to the United States.   /vvp