China announces: starting tomorrow it will place a 15 to 25 percent tariff hike on 128 U.S. imports, including wine, nuts, some fruits, and pork.

Starting tomorrow China will place a 15 to 25 percent tariff hike on 128 U.S. products including wine, nuts, some fruits, and pork.

The import tax increase is in direct response, says China’s finance minister, to U.S. President Donald Trump signing a memo nearly two weeks ago that calls for tariffs on about US$60 billion worth of Chinese imports, including steel.

China had warned the U.S. government that it would take action against any U.S. tariff increase to "safeguard China's interests and balance" trade losses. "China will not sit idly by and let its legitimate rights and interests be harmed, and will certainly take all necessary measures to resolutely defend its legitimate rights and interests," the Chinese government said in late March.

Trump’s March 22 announcement, which dipped the Dow Jones index nearly 3 percent in a single day, would potentially tax more than 1,000 Chinese import products up to 25 percent. The tariff increase, which Trump said was part of an "easy to win … trade war" followed a White House study claiming that China systematically steals U.S. intellectual property, which Beijing denies.

The Chinese ministry of commerce earlier countered the U.S. government accusations that it’s not playing fairly in matters of trade citing a 2014 ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that says that Washington hadn’t complied with an anti-subsidy tariff on certain Chinese imports, including solar panels and wind towers.

China's minister of commerce says this, "proves that the US side has violated WTO rules" and "repeatedly abused trade remedy measures"

According to Reuters the commerce ministry again cited the WTO conclusion saying that the United States had "seriously violated the principles of non-discrimination enshrined in World Trade Organization rules," and had also damaged China’s interests.

"China’s suspension of some of its obligations to the United States is its legitimate right as a member of the World Trade Organization," it said, adding that trade differences between the two nations should be resolved through dialogue and negotiation.