Trump announces fresh round of tariffs on $300bn-worth of Chinese goods

US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he will impose a 10% tariff on another $300bn (£247bn) of Chinese goods, in a sharp escalation of a trade war between the two countries.

The new tariffs come just as the latest round of talks held in Shanghai concluded without significant signs of progress.

The new tariffs will come into effect on 1 September and are likely to target a wide range of goods, from smartphones to clothing.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi responded to the announcement saying: “Adding tariffs is definitely not a constructive way to resolve economic and trade frictions, it's not the correct way.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing in Beijing on Friday: “If the US is going to implement the additional tariffs, China will have to take necessary countermeasures. China won’t accept any maximum pressure, threat, or blackmailing, and won’t compromise at all on major principle matters.”

Trump announced the tariff plan on Twitter: “During the talks the US will start, on September 1st, putting a small additional Tariff of 10% on the remaining 300 Billion Dollars of goods and products coming from China into our Country. This does not include the 250 Billion Dollars already Tariffed at 25%”

In remarks to reporters, he also said that the 10% tariff could rise to 25%. "Somebody should have done this with China a long time ago," he added.

Trump says the United States will be “taxing” China until a trade deal is secured and has called himself the “Tariff Man.”

The Stoxx Europe 600 index slumped at the open in a catch-up move to benchmarks on Wall Street (the Dow Jones Industrials closed down 1.1%) and in Asia as a result of the announcement.