China vows to hit back in trade row with US

Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun speaks during an interview with Reuters at the Ministry of Finance in Beijing, China August 23, 2018. [Reuters]

China will continue to hit back against the US if more tariffs are imposed, the country's finance minister has said.

In an interview with Reuters, Liu Kun said China would respond "resolutely" to the "unreasonable" US measures.

On Thursday, the US imposed a second wave of tariffs on Chinese goods worth $16bn (£12.4bn), and China immediately responded in kind.

Two days of trade talks in Washington between the two sides failed to make any major progress.

Tariff Threats

The escalating trade row between the US and China has now seen each side impose 25% tariffs on a total of $50bn of one another's goods

The US has threatened a third round of tariffs on an additional $200bn of Chinese goods, which could come as soon as next month. President Trump has also said he could slap tariffs on all $500bn of imports from the country.

In his interview with Reuters, Mr Liu said: "China doesn't wish to engage in a trade war, but we will resolutely respond to the unreasonable measures taken by the United States.

"If the United States persists with these measures, we will correspondingly take action to protect our interests."

He said that, so far, the impact of the trade row on the Chinese economy had not been significant, but added that government spending would be increased to support workers affected by the tariffs.

"When we take measures, we try our hardest not to harm the interests of foreign businesses in China. That's why our tariff measures are targeted to avoid affecting them as much as we can."