MNI BRIEF: China To Fight Against U.S Tariff: MOFCOM

China will fight back against the U.S.'s so called reciprocal tariffs revealed Wednesday local time and take decisive countermeasures to safeguard its interests, said the Ministry of Commerce in a statement on Thursday. 

“China urges the U.S. to immediately revoke its unilateral tariffs and address disputes with trade partners through equal dialogue,” it stated, noting the approach based on “subjective and self-serving assessments” violates international trade rules, infringes on the rights of affected parties, and epitomises bullying.

The U.S tariffs ignore balanced outcomes achieved through multilateral trade negotiations and neglect the substantial benefits the U.S. has long reaped from global trade, it said. (See MNI: China To Leverage U.S Tariffs, Target Deals With EU, Asia)

The U.S. slapped an extra 34% of tariffs on Chinese imports, among which 10% will take effect on Saturday, with the remainder to begin April 9.