China's prime minister warned on Friday that there can be no winners in a trade war, hours after new US tariffs on Chinese goods kicked in with Beijing retaliating immediately.
"A trade war benefits no-one because it hurts free trade and the multilateral process," Li Keqiang told a summit with 16 EU and Balkan countries in Sofia in remarks translated from Chinese to Bulgarian.
"If a country wants to raise tariffs, China will respond to defend itself," he said.
The US and China on Friday launched tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's imports, the opening shots in what Beijing called "the largest trade war in economic history" between the world's top two economies.
China’s prime minister warned on Friday that there can be no winners in a trade war, hours after new US tariffs on Chinese goods kicked in with Beijing retaliating immediately.
“A trade war benefits no-one because it hurts free trade and the multilateral process,” Li Keqiang told a summit with 16 EU and Balkan countries in Sofia in remarks translated from Chinese to Bulgarian.
“If a country wants to raise tariffs, China will respond to defend itself,” he said.
The US and China on Friday launched tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s imports, the opening shots in what Beijing called “the largest trade war in economic history” between the world’s top two economies.
