US-China trade war will jeopardise global economy: World Trade Organization warns

In a statement, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said actions taken outside these collective processes greatly increase the risk of escalation in a confrontation that will have no winners, and which could quickly lead to a less stable trading system.

He said disrupting trade flows will jeopardize the global economy at a time when economic recovery, though fragile, has been increasingly evident around the world.

China has said it will defend its interests on trade after US President Donald Trump backed tariffs on Chinese goods. China warned the United States that it was not afraid of a trade war as it threatened tariffs on $3 billion worth of US goods in retaliation over the US measures.

According to China's state-run Xinhua news agency, vice-premier Liu He, in a phone call to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, said China is ready and capable of safeguarding its national interests.

Liu also accused the US of violating international trade rules following its investigation into Chinese intellectual property practices.

Beijing is likely to raise the tax on US pork and aluminium. The Ministry of Commerce said on Friday China would impose 15 per cent import tariffs on 120 types of US products, including fruit, wine and steel pipes, worth US$977 million.

It also plans to impose 25 per cent import levies on another eight categories of products worth US$2 billion, including pork and recycled aluminium.

On thursday, US President Donald Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on a broad range of imports from China. Trump has directed to publish a list of proposed Chinese goods that could be subject to tariffs in 15 days, while the US Treasury Department will have 60 days to propose restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States, according to the presidential memorandum.

The tariffs could be about 60 billion dollars, Trump said Thursday at the White House before signing the memorandum. But a senior White House official told reporters earlier in the day that the number would be close to 50 billion dollars.