China files complaint with WTO against Donald Trump's tariffs on goods, calls US actions ‘malicious’

China on February 4 said that it has filed a complaint against the United States with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against President Donald Trump's “malicious” tariffs, according to an AFP report.

Alongside its tariffs, China also announced an investigation into US tech giant Google, US fashion group PVH Corp (owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein), and US biotech giant Illumina — adding them to a list of “unreliable entities”.

The report cited an official statement from Beijing say that the complaint was registered “to defend its legitimate rights and interests” in response to hiked US tariffs on Chinese goods.

“China has filed a case against the US tariff measures under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism,” the commerce ministry said in a statement, adding the US actions were of a “malicious nature”, the report added.

China retaliates with tariffs on US goods

In direct reaction to US President Trump's announcement of a 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports, China on February 4 also said it would impose a 15 per cent tariff on US coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.

Beijing's finance ministry also disclosed plans to impose 10 per cent tariffs on various US goods, such as crude oil, farm equipment, pickup trucks, and high-performance automobiles like big-engine sports cars, according to news reports by Reuters and Bloomberg.

China's finance ministry said that the United States “unilateral tariff hike” over the weekend prompted the additional duties, adding that these reactionary tariffs will go into force from February 9 (Monday).

‘No winner in trade war’, says China’s envoy at UN

China’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Fu Cong while addressing a press conference on February 4 emphasised that “there is no winner in a trade war and we do hope that the US should look at its own problems, really solve... find a solution that is beneficial to itself and also to the whole world.”

“Frankly speaking, I don't think that raising tariffs is beneficial to the US itself,” Fu said. He added that if US Secretary of State Marco Rubio comes to New York for the meeting, “that will be a very good opportunity for the two foreign ministers to meet.”

On how the deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing could impact work between the two countries at the UN, Fu said that the two biggest countries in the world, China and the US “have so much in common” and can cooperate.

(With inputs from Agencies)