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China vows to fire back at US over trade actions

A senior Chinese official said China would respond as necessary in the event of a trade war with the U.S. as tensions rose between the world's two largest economies after the White House announced plans to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

"In the event of a trade war, China will make a justified and necessary response," Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said at a news conference during the annual session of China's national legislature, the Financial Times reported.

The tariffs on steel and aluminium imports will have little impact on China, but the Trump administration is expected to fashion other actions directed toward China after an investigation into the country's intellectual property practices.

In a response that appeared to be directed toward Trump's tweets that advocated a trade war, Wang said a trade war is not the right solution in a globalized world and risks affecting the global economy.

Trump said in a tweet on March 7 that he asked China to reduce its trade surplus with the U.S. by $1 billion in 2018. China had a goods trade surplus with the U.S. of more than $375 billion in 2017. The country's January-February trade surplus with the U.S. was $42.92 billion, Reuters reported.

The EU promised to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, prompting Trump to threaten the imposition of tariffs on cars imported from Europe. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde has said a global trade war triggered by U.S. tariffs would do serious damage to the world economy and would leave no winners.

In a sign that the Trump administration could soften its plans, White House officials said Canada, Mexico and some other countries could be excluded or get a 30-day exemption from steel and aluminium tariffs.