The hike came on Friday after the White House kept the pressure on the world's No.2 economy and second-biggest provider of U.S. imports by singling it out for an additional tariff increase, having paused most of the "reciprocal" duties imposed on dozens of other countries.
"The U.S. imposition of abnormally high tariffs on China seriously violates international and economic trade rules, basic economic laws and common sense and is completely unilateral bullying and coercion," China's Finance Ministry said in a statement.