China, US at impasse over who should start trade talks

China's commerce ministry on Thursday urged the United States to stop putting "extreme pressure" on the world's second-largest economy and demanded respect in any trade talks, but the two sides remained at an impasse over who should start those talks.

The Donald Trump administration has been ramping up pressure on China by raising import tariffs on Chinese goods in recent months. On Tuesday, the White House published a fact sheet stating that China now faces up to a 245% tariff.

The Chinese commerce ministry has criticised the tariffs as irrational and said Beijing will ignore the "meaningless" tariff numbers game. It has also warned that China will "fight to the end" if the U.S. insists on heaping substantial damage on China's rights and interests.

"The unilateral tariff increases were entirely initiated by the United States," He Yongqian, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson, told a weekly news conference.

Unlike a number of nations that have responded to Trump's "reciprocal tariffs" by seeking deals with Washington, Beijing has been upping its own levies on U.S. goods in response and has not sought talks, which it says can only be conducted on the basis of mutual respect and equality.

Washington said on Tuesday that Trump was open to making a trade deal with China but Beijing should make the first move and that "the ball is in China's court".

"We urge the United States to immediately stop extreme pressure, coercion and blackmail, and resolve differences with China through equal dialogue on the basis of mutual respect," the commerce ministry spokesperson said.

The commerce ministry has been maintaining working-level communication with its U.S. counterparts, she said, adding that China is open to economic and trade consultations with the United States.

But "the person who tied the bell must be the one who unties it," she said, using a Chinese proverb.