CHINA will seek a shared future with its neighbours, the country’s government said today as the tariff war launched by the United States narrowed its focus to Beijing.

On Wednesday President Donald Trump suspended the tariffs, bar a 10 per cent base level, that he had slapped on every nation except China. 

As stock markets across the globe collapsed, Mr Trump said he was putting the plan on hold for 90 days, claiming that countries were lining up to negotiate more favourable conditions.

However, he pushed up tariffs on Chinese imports to 125 per cent, following China’s refusal to buckle under by raising tariffs on US goods in turn over the last week.

Beijing has now retaliated with by imposing tariffs on US goods of 84 per cent, which took effect today.

Mr Trump’s action was apparently an attempt to isolate China in what increasingly looks like a confrontation between the world’s two largest economies. 

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said the tariffs “seriously infringe upon the legitimate interests of all countries, seriously violate WTO [World Trade Organisation] rules, seriously damage the rules-based multilateral trading system and seriously impact the stability of the global economic order.”

He added: “China is willing to resolve differences through consultation and negotiation, but if the US insists on its own way, China will fight to the end.”

In the face of the US trade war, Beijing has take steps to strengthen its other trading relationships.

Mr Wang met representatives of the European Union today.

The European Commission said it would put trade retaliation measures on hold for 90 days to match Mr Trump’s pause and leave room for a negotiated solution.

Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the new tariffs on €20.9 billion (£18bn) of US goods will be suspended for 90 days, but “if negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in.”

Chinese representatives also met with officials of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations. 

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said his country has “already made a full evaluation and is prepared to deal with all kinds of uncertainties, and will introduce incremental policies according to the needs of the situation.”

Asean and China have been each other’s largest trading partner for five consecutive years. 

In 2024, the total trade between China and Asean reached 6.99 trillion yuan (£743bn), marking a 9 per cent increase year-on-year and accounting for 15.9 per cent of China’s total foreign trade. 

The Foreign Ministry’s Lin Jian warned that Beijing “will not sit idly by and let the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese people be deprived of, nor will we allow the international trade rules and multilateral trading system to be undermined.”