China says it must take counter-measures to latest U.S. tariffs

[August 15, 2019]  BEIJING (Reuters) - China has to take necessary counter-measures to the latest U.S. tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry also said the U.S. tariffs violate a consensus reached by leaders of two countries and get off the right track of resolving disputes via negotiation.

The United States said early this month it would slap duties on $300 billion of Chinese goods from Sept. 1, which would effectively cover all of China's exports to the United States.

But President Donald Trump backed off part of the plan on Tuesday, delaying duties on some of the items on the list such as cellphones, laptops and other consumer goods, in the hopes of blunting their impact on U.S. holiday sales. Tariffs will still apply to those products from mid-December.

(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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