Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the comments at a daily news briefing in Beijing.
Bloomberg reported that Trump has told aides he is ready to impose tariffs on 200 billion dollars more in Chinese imports as soon as a public comment period on the plan ends on Sept. 6.
The world’s two largest economies have already applied tariffs to 50 billion dollars of each other’s goods in a tit-for-tat trade war.
Talks aimed at easing tensions ended last week without major breakthroughs.
The new proposed 25 per cent tariffs would affect consumer products including home building supplies, technology products, bicycles and apparel.
Some sources said Trump had not made his final decision, the Bloomberg report said. Trump administration officials have been divided over how hard to push Beijing.
Trump, who has threatened to impose duties on virtually all of the more than 500 billion dollars of Chinese goods exported to the U.S.each year, told Reuters in an interview earlier this month that resolving the trade war with China would “take time” and that he had “no time frame” for ending it.
The report on Trump’s China stance coincides with U.S. negotiators pushing to hammer out a deal with Canadian counterparts to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement. (Reuters/NAN)