China on Tuesday dismissed as unscientific and unprofessional US President Donald Trump's charge that Beijing has ripped off America with unfair business practices for decades.

The US and China are locked in a bruising trade war since Trump imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminium items from China in March last year, a move that sparked fears of a global trade war. In response, China imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on billions of dollars worth of American imports.

Trump once again accused China of ripping off United States at a rally in Montoursville, Pennsylvania on Monday, attacking his potential re-election challenger Joe Biden for minimising the economic threat posed by Beijing.

They want Biden so that China can continue to make $500 billion dollars a year and more ripping off the United States, he said.

Past leaders let China freely plunder the US economy and take the crown jewels of American industry, Trump said.

Reacting to Trump's charge, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told media here that any trade deal should be balanced and mutually beneficial.

It is necessary to distinguish between reciprocity and which side gains advantage. In trade relations, they are not the same thing. It is unrealistic to ask for absolute equal openness and not to mention that economic globalisation is a process that countries complement each other's advantages, he said.

In trade, mutual benefit means we can achieve over all mutual benefit and balanced interests in open markets. So, it is not scientific or professional to think that US got ripped off. Any trade deal should be two-way balanced and based on equality and mutual benefit, he said.

Trump is demanding China to reduce the USD 375 billion trade deficit. He also called for verifiable measures for protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), technology transfer and more access to American goods in the Chinese markets.

He has already increased the tariffs on over USD 250 billion worth of Chinese exports to the US and threatened to extend tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 per cent. China too slapped reciprocal tariffs on some US exports to the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)