China vows to retaliate as Trump threatens new tariffs

China has pledged to retaliate against US companies after President Donald Trump threatened to place tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese imports, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Commerce in Beijing said it would retaliate with "strong" countermeasures.

"If the US loses its sense and publishes such a list, China will have to take comprehensive quantitative and qualitative measures and retaliate forcefully," a ministry statement said.

In a statement issued on Monday evening, Trump said he had instructed the US trade representative’s office to identify $200 billion in Chinese imports for additional tariffs of 10 percent.

Last week, the US president threatened 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese products. 

Earlier, the International Monetary Fund has described the deepening trade dispute as one of the biggest risks to global growth.

The US imported $505 billion of goods from China last year and exported about $130 billion, leaving a 2017 trade deficit of $376 billion, according to official government figures.