China steps up trade row with WTO move

China made a formal complaint to the World Trade Organisation on Thursday over Donald Trump’s aggressive tactics against the backdrop of talks in Washington to ease the escalating dispute.

The US and China imposed more tariff hikes on around $16 billion (£12.4 billion) of goods on each side from midnight today, including cars and factory machinery.

It follows last month’s first round of tariffs on $34 billion of goods and threats by President Trump to clobber virtually all $500 billion of Chinese imports to the US with extra charges.

Beijing’s commerce ministry said Washington was “remaining obstinate” and would “continue to take necessary countermeasures”. It added: “To safeguard free trade and multilateral systems, and defend its own lawful interests, China will file suit regarding these tariff measures under the WTO dispute resolution mechanism,” it said.

No details have been released on the trade talks, which began yesterday. But with no settlement in sight, economists warn the conflict could spread and knock up to 0.5 percentage points off global economic growth in 2020.