China on Friday accused the United States of repeatedly lying about the effects of the trade war on its economy as Beijing prepares to hike tariffs on American goods ranging from wine to pianos and condoms.
Saturday's retaliatory tariff increase will cap a week that was marked by a heated war of words and Chinese threats to curb exports of rare earths, which are key to US tech industries, after President Donald Trump blacklisted telecom giant Huawei.
The latest target of Beijing's ire was comments by Trump stating that the US tariffs have had a "devastating effect" on the Chinese economy.
"The US side has said such lies not just once or twice. Every time China exposes them in time, but the US seems to be very persistent, even obsessed, and keeps repeating these lies," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing.
Washington and Beijing resumed their tariffs battle earlier this month after trade talks in Washington ended without a deal, with the US side accusing Chinese negotiators of reneging on previous commitments.
The countries have exchanged tariffs on USD 360 billion in two-way trade so far.
Trump more than doubled punitive tariffs on USD 200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 per cent, and launched the process to hit nearly all remaining imports from the Asian country.
"I can tell you, China very much wants to make a deal," Trump said Thursday. "China is becoming a very weakened nation."
Since then, China has warned that the US must show "sincerity" if negotiations are to resume and angry officials accused Washington this week of engaging in "naked economic terrorism."