China has vowed to take “countermeasures” against any move by the United States to further raise tariffs and pledged to take firm action to stabilise the markets, after US President Donald Trump threatened to slap another 50 per cent duty on Chinese imports.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday that China “firmly opposes” any moves to increase tariffs by the US and vowed to “resolutely respond” if it does so.
“The US threat to escalate tariffs is doubling down on its mistakes, once again exposing its nature of coercion. China firmly rejects this. If the US persists in its course, China will resolutely respond with countermeasures to the end,” the ministry said, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China said it would “provide relending support if necessary to resolutely defend the stability of the capital market”, as officials rushed to contain the fallout from an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
After plunging on Monday, Chinese markets picked up slightly on Tuesday, with the CSI 300 index opening up 0.24 per cent while Shenzhen’s startup stock index, ChiNext, gained 1.68 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai composite index was down 0.07 per cent.
Central Huijin, a subsidiary of the sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp, began to intervene in the markets on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday, it pledged to continue to buy more exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in a bid to stabilise prices.
