Trade war on: China threatens retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports

The trade war is on.

In a statement Friday, China’s Commerce Ministry gave reporters in Beijing a list of the U.S. goods on which it would slap reciprocal tariffs unless Washington negotiates a settlement as soon as possible.

Those goods, ranging from pork to steel, are worth about $3 billion, Bloomberg news reported.

The pork tariff will be 25 percent, the fee on U.S. steel pipes would be 15 percent, and a 15 percent tax will also be imposed on American fruits and wines, the Chinese statement said.

On Thursday, President Trump imposed tariffs on a much larger range of Chinese goods and services, worth $50 billion.

Mr. Trump’s tariffs instructed the Commerce Department to target Chinese information technology, consumer electronics and telecoms, imposing import costs of $50 billion to $60 billion.

That amount is roughly equal the value of U.S. technology lost to China because of the country’s onerous trade rules.

In its statement Friday, China said it wanted dialogue on trade issues and urged U.S. negotiators to come to the table, although it set no deadline for its threatened tariffs to take effect.

“The Chinese side urges the U.S. side to resolve the concerns of the Chinese side as soon as possible,” the ministry said, claiming that otherwise there might be “damage to overall Chinese-U.S. cooperation.”

• S.A. Miller contributed to this report.