Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that he is prepared to impose tariffs on virtually all Chinese imports to the US as the trade war between the world's two largest economies intensified.
"We have the right to do another USD 325 billion at 25 per cent in additional tariffs. That is a tremendous amount of money that would come into our country. I have not made that decision yet," Efe news quoted Trump as saying to reporters while welcoming Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to the White House on Monday.
Trump's comments came hours after China increased from 10 per cent to 25 per cent the tariffs it levied last year on USD 60 billion worth of US imports.
Beijing was retaliating for Trump's decision last week to enact an identical increase in the US import duties applied since last year to USD 200 billion worth of Chinese products.
Asked about the latest move from Beijing, Trump said he wasn't concerned about the impact on the US economy.
"I love the position we're in. There can be some retaliation, but it can't be very, very substantial, by comparison. And out of the billions of dollars that we're taking in, a small portion of that will be going to our farmers because China will be retaliating, probably, to a certain extent, against our farmers," he said.
Trump said he was planning a USD 15 billion aid package for US farmers hurt by Chinese tariffs.
"Our farmers are great patriots and they've done a fantastic job. So our farmers are going to be very well taken care of," he said.
Chinese and US trade negotiators met last week in Washington, but they adjourned without an agreement and no further talks are scheduled.