China vows to hit back against US tariffs

China vowed on Friday to strike back quickly if the United States hurts its interests, hours before US President Donald Trump was due to unveil revisions to a tariff list targeting $50 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Washington and Beijing appeared increasingly to be headed toward a trade war after several rounds of negotiations failed to resolve US complaints over Chinese industrial policy, market access and a $375 billion trade gap.

"If the United States takes unilateral, protectionist measures, harming China's interests, we will quickly react and take necessary steps to resolutely protect our fair, legitimate rights," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular daily news briefing.

TRT World's Patrick Fok reports from Hong Kong.

Trump was due to give details later on Friday of a revised list of 800 product categories, down from 1,300, according to an administration official and an industry source familiar with the list.

Trump has made up his mind to impose "pretty significant" tariffs on Chinese goods, another administration official said on Thursday.

But his calls for billions in tariffs could complicate his efforts to maintain China's support in his negotiations with North Korea.

Timing unclear

It remained unclear when Trump would impose the tariffs if he decides to do so. Several industry lobbyists said they expected the move to come as early as Friday, with publication of a Federal Register notice, or it could be put off until next week.

Washington has also completed a second list of possible tariffs on another $100 billion in Chinese goods, in the expectation that China would respond to the initial US tariff list in kind, Reuters is reporting.

China has published its own list of threatened tariffs on $50 billion in US goods, including soybeans, aircraft, and autos, and has said it would hit back if Washington followed up with further measures.

Beijing and Washington have held three rounds of high-level talks since early May that have yet to yield a compromise, with Trump unmoved by a Chinese offer to buy an additional $70 billion worth of US farm and energy products and other goods, people familiar with the matter have said.

"The threshold to come to a consensus or a compromise seems high," Tai Hui, chief market strategist for Asia-Pacific at JP Morgan Asset Management wrote in a note.

Industrial policy impasse

Trump's revised tariff list may exclude some consumer items from an earlier proposal to focus more on goods related to Beijing's Made in China 2025 programme, according to a Eurasia Group report.

The Made in China 2025 initiative is aimed at accelerating China's prowess and narrowing its competitiveness gap with the United States and other industrial powers in key technologies such as robotics and semiconductors.

While China has in recent months made incremental market-opening reforms in industries for which critics in the foreign business community say they were already planned, it has shown no inclination to yield on its core industrial policies.

"US-China trade tensions will be long-lasting," said Yifan Hu, regional chief investment officer and chief China economist at UBS Wealth Management told a briefing in Beijing.

"The trade skirmish is not just about the trade deficit and exchange rates, but about the rules of the game, market openness and intellectual property. It is also about values, governance and geopolitical disagreements," she said.