China accuses US of 'pressure, blackmail' over additional 50% tariffs

China on Tuesday accused the US of “pressure, threats and blackmail” over President Donald Trump’s unprecedented additional 50 per cent tariffs on the country that are expected to rattle a wobbly market.

“Tariff wars have no winners, and protectionism has no way out. Chinese people don’t make trouble, but are not afraid of it. Pressure, threats and blackmail are not the right way to deal with China,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

Trump announced fresh tariffs against China on Monday, rattling the already upended global economy after his last week’s retaliatory tariffs proclamation.

Beijing – Washington’s major economic rival but also a key trading partner – responded by announcing its own 34 per cent duties on US goods to come into effect on Thursday, deepening a showdown between the world’s two largest economies.

The swift retaliation from China sparked a fresh warning from Trump that he would impose additional levies if Beijing refused to stop pushing back against his barrage of tariffs – a move that would drive the overall levies on Chinese goods to 104 percent.

“I have great respect for China but they can not do this,” Trump said in the White House.

“We are going to have one shot at this… I’ll tell you what, it is an honour to do it.”

China swiftly hit back, blasting what it called “blackmailing” by the US and saying it would “never accept” those tariffs.

“If the US insists on going its own way, China will fight it to the end,” a spokesperson for Beijing’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng collapsed by 13.2 percent on Monday – its worst day since the Asian financial crisis – before paring back some of those losses in opening trade on Tuesday.

Wall Street stocks finished lower following a volatile session, with both the Dow and S&P 500 ending down.

Meanwhile, Trump’s tariffs announcement has invited criticism from billionaires who once backed him during his presidential bid.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has warned that the retaliatory tariffs might launch an “economic nuclear war.”

“Business investment will grind to a halt, (and) consumers will close their wallets if the new levies do indeed come into force. We will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate,” Ackman said.

With inputs from agencies