China will resolutely take countermeasures if U.S. escalates tariff measures: commerce ministry

　　BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhua) -- China will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its rights and interests should the United States escalate its tariff measures, the country's commerce ministry said Tuesday.

　　The comments were made by a spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce after the United States threatened to impose an additional 50-percent tariff on Chinese imports, which the spokesperson said China firmly opposes.

　　The U.S. so-called "reciprocal tariffs" against China are groundless and a typical practice of unilateral bullying, the spokesperson said.

　　The spokesperson noted that the countermeasures China has adopted are entirely legitimate actions aimed at protecting its sovereignty, security, and development interests, as well as maintaining a normal international trade order.

　　The U.S. tariff escalation threat against China compounds its mistake and further exposes its nature of blackmail, which China will never accept, said the spokesperson.

　　"China will fight till the end if the U.S. side is bent on going down the wrong path," the spokesperson noted.

　　China reiterates that there is no winner in a trade war and protectionism leads nowhere, said the spokesperson, adding that pressuring and threatening are not the right way to engage with the country.

　　China urges the United States to immediately correct its wrongdoings, cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China, stop its economic and trade suppression, and settle differences with China properly through equal-footed dialogue on the basis of mutual respect, the spokesperson said.