BEIJING (AP) — China's government warned Wednesday it will retaliate if Washington imposes new trade penalties, following a report the Trump administration will propose increasing the tariff rate on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports. 
 
 A foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said Beijing was ready for "dialogue and consultation" to defuse the escalating dispute. 
 
 "If the United States takes further measures that escalate the situation, China will definitely fight back," said Geng. He gave no details of possible measures but said, "we are determined to safeguard our legitimate and lawful rights and interests." 
 
 Washington imposed additional 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods July 6 in response to complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. Beijing responded by imposing the same penalties on the same amount of U.S. imports. 
 
 Bloomberg News reported, citing three unidentified sources, the Trump administration would propose imposing 25 percent tariffs on a $200 billion list of Chinese goods targeted in a new round of penalties, up from the planned 10 percent. 
 
 Geng gave no indication whether the two sides were preparing to resume negotiations. 
 
 "I need to stress that dialogues must be conducted on the basis of mutual respect and equality," he said. "Unilateral threats and pressure will only be counterproductive." 
 
 The Ministry of Commerce didn't respond to questions by phone and fax about the status of possible negotiations. ||||| LISTEN TO ARTICLE 4:41 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email 
 
 President Donald Trump will keep pressing China for trade concessions, a top White House economic adviser said, as the Asian nation continued the tariff escalation by announcing further retaliatory actions against U.S. goods. 
 
 “We’ve said many times: no tariffs, no tariff barriers, no subsidies. We want to see trade reforms. China is not delivering, OK?,” National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Friday. “Their economy’s weak, their currency is weak, people are leaving the country. Don’t underestimate President Trump’s determination to follow through.” 
 
 China also signaled on Friday it has no intention of retreating from a trade war. The government announced it has prepared a list of $60 billion worth of U.S. goods to hit with duties should the U.S. follow through on a plan to impose duties on an additional $200 billion of Chinese goods, as early as next month. The Chinese duties ranging from 5 percent to 25 percent will be levied on 5,207 kinds of American imports, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on its website. 
 
 The retaliation stands to further inflame tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. It echoes China’s response to the previous round of tariffs last month, when the U.S. and China imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of each others’ goods. 
 
 Another $16 billion in U.S. levies on Chinese goods will likely follow in the coming days or weeks, which Beijing has said it will retaliate against in-kind. 
 
 These U.S. Products May Be Affected by China’s Proposed Tariffs 
 
 In addition, Trump this week ordered officials to consider imposing a 25 percent tax on $200 billion worth of imported Chinese goods, up from an initial 10 percent rate. The move was intended to bring China back to the negotiating table for talks over U.S. demands for structural changes to the Chinese economy and a cut in the bilateral trade deficit. Friday’s retaliation from China suggests that tactic hasn’t worked. 
 
 U.S. and Chinese officials have held “hardly any conversations” in the past month, but there’s “some hint” the Chinese may be warming to the idea of negotiations, Kudlow said. There’s recently been some communication at the highest levels, he told reporters outside the White House. 
 
 Three rounds of trade negotiations between senior U.S. and Chinese officials earlier this year centered on U.S. demands for China to make structural changes to its economy and to reduce its trade surplus with America. On Friday, U.S. data showed the merchandise trade gap with China slightly widened in June to $32.5 billion after May’s $32 billion. 
 
 Tariff Escalation 
 
 The U.S. tariffs now in place or threatened add up to almost half of the value of goods it imported from China last year. The Chinese side seem to be seeking to match that ratio with the new proposals. 
 
 Chinese authorities -- bracing for economic fallout -- have taken a range of measures in recent weeks to bolster the economy. On Friday officials stepped in to cushion the yuan, which has been battered by trade tensions and was approaching the key level of seven to the dollar. 
 
 Read more: China steps in to support its currency 
 
 The People’s Bank of China will impose a reserve requirement of 20 percent on some trading of foreign-exchange forward contracts, according to a statement on Friday evening. That will effectively make it more expensive to short the yuan, and is a tactic that the central bank used to stabilize the currency in the aftermath of its shock devaluation in 2015. 
 
 Kudlow said the weaker yuan indicates that investors have questions about the strength of China’s economy, adding a lack of intervention to prop up the yuan is helping cushion the impact of the trade war for China. A weaker currency usually makes exports more competitive. 
 
 “Some of the currency fall though, I think, is just money leaving China cause it’s a lousy investment and if that continues that will really damage the Chinese economy,” Kudlow said on Friday. 
 
 China is trying to seek an “equal” position in future talks with the U.S. with Friday’s retaliation announcement, said Gai Xinzhe, analyst at the Bank of China’s Institute of International Finance in Beijing. “Any talks in the future, should they happen, should be conducted on an equal and faithful basis.” 
 
 Beijing’s plans for tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods includes an additional 5 percent in duty on about 600 kinds of U.S. products including planes and computers; another 10 percent on almost 1,000 products including wigs and textiles; an extra 20 percent on more than 1,000 items including some chemicals, cookers and paper; and an additional 25 percent on over 2,400 products such as meat, wheat, wine and LNG. 
 
 "China’s differential tax rate countermeasures are rational and restrained," the Ministry of Commerce said in a separate statement on its website. "The implementation date will be subject to the actions of the U.S., and China reserves the right to continue introducing other countermeasures." 
 
 — With assistance by Xiaoqing Pi, Yinan Zhao, Kevin Hamlin, Miao Han, and Jonathan Ferro ||||| China has announced plans to put tariffs of up to 25% on US products worth $60 billion, the latest salvo in an escalating trade war. 
 
 The Chinese government said Friday that it would impose duties of 25%, 20%, 10% and 5% on the products if the Trump administration follows through on threats to tax $200 billion of Chinese goods. 
 
 "In violation of the bilateral consensus reached after multiple rounds of negotiations, the United States has again unilaterally escalated trade frictions," the Chinese State Council Tariff Commission said in its statement on Friday. 
 
 China listed 5,207 US products that it would target in an effort to "safeguard its own legitimate interests." 
 
 Products in line for tariffs include meat, coffee, nuts, alcoholic drinks, minerals, chemicals, leather products, wood products, machinery, furniture and auto parts. 
 
 Related: The making of a global trade war 
 
 Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said in a statement that "instead of retaliating, China should address the longstanding concerns about its unfair trading practices." 
 
 The United States and China trade goods and services worth about $650 billion each year, the largest trading relationship in the world between two countries. 
 
 But China exports far more to the United States than the other way round, making it more challenging for the country to hit back against US tariffs. 
 
 These new tariffs would affect about 38% of all American exports to China, which are worth about $170 billion in total. 
 
 Related: A brief history of the US-China trade war 
 
 Trade tensions between the United States and China have been on the rise since April 2017, when President Donald Trump directed the US Commerce Department to investigate whether imports of steel and aluminum from China and other countries threatened national security. 
 
 The investigation resulted in tariffs on steel and aluminum products from China and many other countries in March. Beijing responded with equal measures. 
 
 Then, in July, the United States imposed tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods to pressure the country into abandoning what the Trump administration describes as unfair practices such as stealing intellectual property. Beijing again responded with penalties of an equal scale, targeting American products such as motorcycles and communications satellites. 
 
 The most recent threat from the Trump administration came this week, when it warned that it could impose steeper tariffs than originally planned on another batch of imports from China. 
 
 The White House had previously asked the Office of the United States Trade Representative about the possibility of imposing a 10% tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Under the new plan, tariffs of 25% would be applied. 
 
 Protectionist moves by the United States have drawn a response from other trading major partners. Canada, Mexico and the European Union have responded to US taxes on steel and aluminum with retaliatory tariffs. 
 
 -- Kaitlan Collins contributed reporting.
– The US in early July hit $34 billion of Chinese goods with an extra 25% tariff; China responded in kind. CNN reports round two could see the US slap tariffs on another $16 billion in goods as soon as this week, but it's a much bigger figure that's attracting attention Wednesday. Bloomberg cites sources who say the White House is thinking about upping the ante and imposing not an additional 10% tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods but an additional 25%. CNN echoes that news via its source. Bloomberg frames the move, which would be revealed in the next couple of weeks, as intended to "force officials back to the negotiating table through threats of even higher tariffs"; the last high-level negotiations took place nearly two months ago. A Chinese foreign ministry rep responded to the news thusly, per the AP: "If the United States takes further measures that escalate the situation, China will definitely fight back. We are determined to safeguard our legitimate and lawful rights and interests."