China slaps tariffs on US energy, vehicles in trade war

China said Tuesday it would impose tariffs of 15 percent on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas from the United States, after Washington slapped ten percent levies on Chinese goods.

Beijing’s finance ministry also said it would slap 10 percent tariffs on imports from the US of crude oil, agricultural machinery, pickup trucks and vehicles such as sports cars with large-displacement engines.

The new tariffs were in response to the “unilateral tariff hike” by the United States over the weekend, Beijing said.

That hike, it added, “seriously violates World Trade Organization rules, does nothing to resolve its own problems, and disrupts normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States”.

Beijing’s tariffs come into force next Monday, the finance ministry said.

The US on Saturday announced sweeping measures against major trade partners, with goods from China facing an additional 10 percent tariff on top of the duties they already endure.

Trump said the measures aimed to punish countries for failing to halt flows of illegal migrants and drugs including fentanyl into the United States.