China raises tariffs on US goods to 125%, accuses Washington of ‘unilateral bullying’

China announced on Friday that it will raise tariffs on all United States goods from 84% to 125% starting April 12, reported Bloomberg.

This came after the White House on Thursday hiked levies on Chinese imports to 145%.

The move marks a sharp escalation in trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies and threatens to further disrupt global supply chains.

Beijing’s decision came after the United States singled China out for an additional tariff increase, despite pausing most reciprocal duties on dozens of other countries.

“The US imposition of abnormally high tariffs on China seriously violates international and economic trade rules, basic economic laws and common sense and is completely unilateral bullying and coercion,” China’s finance ministry said in a statement, according to Reuters.

Beijing also said it plans to ignore any further tariff increases announced by Washington, describing the Trump administration’s moves as a “joke”.

“Given that American goods are no longer marketable in China under the current tariff rates, if the US further raises tariffs on Chinese exports, China will disregard such measures,” the statement added.

In a separate release, China’s commerce ministry said: “It’s become a joke.”

It described Washington’s repeated use of excessively high tariffs as a numbers game with no economic rationale, and as further evidence of the United States using trade measures for...

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