China raised its tariffs on US goods to 84% in response to Washington's imposition of 104% levies on Wednesday, arguing that trade between the two countries is "roughly balanced".
Donald Trump hit China with a basic 20% levy last month, with a 34% 'reciprocal' tariff that was due to be imposed today and then lifted by another 50% after the US President criticised the People's Republic response last Friday.
China had imposed its own 34% levy on US goods at the end of last week, and today it lifted that by another 50%.
Earlier on, China's foreign affairs spokesperson, Lin Jian, accused the US of "bullying practices" and called for the Trump administration to resolve the dispute through dialogue, while a white paper from Beijing's information office argued that trade between the countries was "roughly balanced".
Lin told reporters in a press conference the Chinese people have a "legitimate right to development" that "must not be deprived" by the US adding such charges on its goods.
In what seemed like a willingness to begin trade talks, Lin urged Washington to resolve the matter through "dialogue and negotiation" and "adopt an attitude of equality, respect and mutual benefit".
An official at China’s Ministry of Commerce was cited by Xinhua, the state-run news agency, as saying Beijing hopes the US will "work with China to strengthen dialogue, manage differences, and promote cooperation".
The official said the government is willing to address the respective concerns of the sides "through dialogue and consultations on an equal footing, and jointly advance the steady, healthy and sustainable development of China-US economic and trade relations".
'Roughly balanced' trade, but poor rice
China’s State Council Information Office published a white paper with details of its take on US-China trade, which said that if Washington took account of services and local sales of companies' branches in the other country, then US-China trade is "roughly balanced".
The paper said the US has not honoured its promises under the trade deal made between Beijing and Washington in January 2020 and did not cut a very conciliatory tone.
It included scathing complaints about the quality of US rice, the "significantly more expensive" price of US beef, the faults with Boeing 737 aircraft in recent years, and that American ports are not wide enough to accommodate the largest 300,000-tonne crude oil tankers resulting in oil transport costs to China "tripling" compared to the Middle East.
"US rice can hardly compete with Southeast Asian rice in terms of quality, appearance, taste, and price," the paper added in another example.
Despite this criticism, the paper said that as the world's top two economies, economic and trade cooperation is already "huge, substantive, and broad-based", and it "is only natural for some differences to exist".
"The best way to address problems and bridge gaps is to seek paths for mutually beneficial cooperation through equal-footed dialogue," it said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he felt China was not interested in negotiation, despite Beijing's call for dialogue.
"I think it’s unfortunate that the Chinese actually don’t want to come and negotiate because they are the worst offenders in the international trading system," he told Fox News.
"They are the surplus country," he said. "Their exports to the US are five times our exports to China. They can raise their tariff, but so what?"
Bessent also said China should not devalue its currency as a response to the tariffs, as "that is a tax on the rest of the world and everyone will have to keep raising their tariffs to offset the devaluation".
"So I would urge them not to do that and to come to the table," he said.
** Update: Adds details on tariffs, white paper and responses **