China FM calls on UK, EU to help defend global trade

China's top diplomat on Tuesday called on Britain and the EU to jointly safeguard international trade as Beijing faces a blistering tariff war with Washington.

While the rest of the world has been hit with a blanket 10 percent tariff by the United States, China faces levies of up to 145 percent on many products.

Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods.

"Against the current backdrop of rampant unilateral bullying, China and the UK have a responsibility to... safeguard the multilateral trading order", China's foreign minister Wang Yi told his British counterpart David Lammy in a phone call, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

Wang added that "dialogues" with the UK on the economy and trade were "being prepared", the ministry statement said.

In a separate phone call on Tuesday, Wang told his Austrian counterpart that the European Union should "jointly defend" international trade.

"China and the EU should shoulder international responsibilities, jointly defend the multilateral trading system, and work together to build an open world economy", Wang told Beate Meinl-Reisinger, according to another Chinese foreign ministry statement.