Commerce ministry says US is ‘threatening to intimidate’ with plans for new Trump tariffs on exports

China has hit back at accusations from the US that it is trying to hurt the world economy, as the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies appeared to re-escalate, amped up by aggressive rhetoric on both sides.

China’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday that the US was “threatening to intimidate” with the prospect of new tariffs on Chinese exports, “which is not the right way to get along with China”. Its spokesperson said that China would “fight to the end” in trade talks.

The comments came shortly after the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said China wanted to “to pull everybody else down with them” by damaging the world economy.