China says ready for trade war as Trump tariffs loom

Beijing, March 8 (AFP/APP): China warned the United States on Thursday that everyone will be harmed if President Donald Trump launches a trade war, as official figures showed the Asian power maintained a robust trade surplus with the US.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi issued the stern message as the Trump administration geared up to formally introduce steel and aluminium tariffs as early as Thursday despite global concerns. "Choosing a trade war is surely the wrong prescription, in the end you will only hurt others and yourself," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. "China will certainly make an appropriate and necessary response," Wang said at a press conference on the sidelines of the Communist Party's annual parliamentary session.

On Wednesday, at the World Trade Organization, China led a group of 18 members urging Trump to scrap the planned tariffs, with its representative saying the levies would pose a systemic threat to the rules-based global trading system.

US imports from China of steel and aluminium make up a small proportion of its total imports from the world's second largest economy. But the tariffs may be the first foray in the brewing American trade war with Beijing. In coming weeks, the Trump administration plans to issue a report on China's intellectual property practices expected to hammer China and possibly bring about further tariffs on a wider range of Chinese imports.