China will respond immediately to protect its rights and interests if the United States pushes ahead with unilateral and protectionist policies, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily news briefing on Friday.
Geng made the remarks in response to the reports that the U.S. is scheduled on Friday to release an updated list of tariffs targeting 50 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese imports.
While reiterating China’s stance of settling disputes through dialogue, Geng pointed out that the results of the China-U.S. trade talks would be void if the US forges ahead with trade sanctions including tariffs.
