Washington’s duties on Chinese products have “become a numbers game with no practical significance in economics”, a spokesperson for Beijing’s commerce ministry said.
“It will only further expose the United States’s… bullying and coercion.
“It will become a joke.”
The 125 percent tariffs on US goods are up from 84 percent, with the 125 percent rate effective from Saturday.
The countermeasure came after US President Donald Trump’s latest escalation in a tit-for-tat trade war that he started by singling China out even as he hit a pause on tariffs for other countries.
Trump’s universal tariffs on China total 145 percent.
When Trump announced on Wednesday that China faced 125 percent tariffs, he did not include a 20 percent tariff on China tied to its role in fentanyl production. (With contributions from AP)
