China on Thursday said it will fight United States President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end” if Washington DC wanted to engage in trade wars, Global Times reported.

“If the US wants to fight, our response will continue to the end,” the country’s commerce ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying. “Pressure, threats, and coercion are not the right way to deal with China.”

Separately, the country’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said: “The US cause doesn’t win the support of the people and will end in failure.”

Lin said Washington was acting out of “selfish interests” and was using the duties as a means to “seek selfish gains” over those of the global economy, the BBC reported.

Trump on Wednesday increased tariffs on China by 125%, while reducing the duties on imports from other countries to 10% for 90 days, to provide time for trade negotiations.

The US President cited the “lack of respect” Beijing had shown to the global markets for further increasing tariffs on imports from China.

“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the USA, and other countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” Trump said on social media.

Trump claimed that 75 countries had sought trade negotiations with Washington and had not retaliated.

China’s yuan was at its weakest level against the US dollar on Thursday since the global financial crisis, Reuters reported.

Oil prices also fell by nearly 3% amid fears of a deepening trade war between the US and China. Brent futures fell by $1.94, or 2.96% to $63.54 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped $1.88, or 3.02% to $60.47, Reuters reported.

Washington had announced “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries, including a 26% “discounted” levy on India, on April 2.

Trump had repeatedly said he intended to impose a reciprocal tax on India, among others, citing high tariffs the countries impose on foreign goods. He has already imposed tariffs on a range of products from Canada, Mexico and China.

The US president had planned 34% tariffs on Chinese products in addition to the 20% rate imposed in March. However, he vowed to add another 50% levy after China announced its own 34% counter tariffs on American goods. This had brought the additional tariff rate on Chinese goods to 104%.

Retaliating to this, Beijing on Wednesday increased its tariffs on American goods to 84%. Trump responded by increasing the tariffs imposed on China by an additional 21% on Wednesday.

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