China announced countermeasures on Friday, raising tariffs on US goods from 84 per cent to 125 per cent starting on Saturday.
The US and China have escalated a trade war by raising tariffs even as US President Donald Trump hit a pause on tariffs for other countries.
Mr Trump’s universal tariffs on China total 145 per cent.
When he announced on Wednesday that China faced 125 per cent tariffs, he did not include a 20 per cent tariff on China tied to its role in fentanyl production.
“The US alternately raising abnormally high tariffs on China has become a numbers game, which has no practical economic significance, and will become a joke in the history of the world economy,” a commerce ministry spokesman said in a statement announcing the countermeasure.
“However, if the US insists on continuing to substantially infringe on China’s interests, China will resolutely counter and fight to the end.”
China’s Commerce Ministry said it was filing another legal case with the World Trade Organisation on the raising of US tariffs.
