China on Monday imposed trade tariffs on the United States amounting to USD 3 billion in retaliation to the latter's decision of imposing similar trade tariffs on Chinese goods last month.
According to China's Finance Ministry, it suspended tariff concessions on 128 American items, including aluminium, fruits, and pork, Xinhua reported.
"The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has decided to impose a tariff of 15 percent on 120 items of products imported from the United States including fruits and related products, and a tariff of 25 percent on eight items of imports including pork and related products from the country," according to a statement posted on the Chinese finance ministry's website.
The statement espoused that Beijing had taken a "countermeasure", in response to Washington D.C.'s earlier move to impose tariffs on aluminium and steel imports.
On March 23, US President Donald Trump imposed massive trade tariffs amounting to USD 60 billion on China, in an effort to stop the latter from stealing "intellectual property" from American companies.
The US had passed an order last month imposing 25 percent tariffs imposed upon steel and aluminium imports on China. The new order would see a 25 percent tariff on imports of steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminium.
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"Although in violation of WTO (World Trade Organisation) rules, the US measure went into effect on March 23, which has severely undermined China's interests," according to the finance ministry's statement.
"China advocates and supports a multilateral trade system," it added, underlining that to suspend tariff concessions on US goods, it was a move to safeguard Beijing's interests using WTO rules.