On Wednesday, a spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry dismissed the additional tariff hike, telling reporters that the move “fully exposes the fact that the United States has become irrational in instrumentalizing and weaponizing tariffs.”

“China has repeatedly stated its position on the unilateral tariffs imposed by the United States, and it has ignored the U.S.'s meaningless tariff numbers game,” the commerce official said.

He said beijing would take “countermeasures” and see the trade war “through to the very end” if Washington continued to “infringe on China’s rights and interests.”

China has shrugged off the latest U.S. tariff hike, dismissing the Trump administration’s threats as a “meaningless tariff numbers game.”