China, April 4: China on Wednesday notified the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of imposing US$611.5 million worth of retaliatory tariffs on $2.75 billion worth of US imports including pork, nuts and ethanol. The move is considered as retaliation to the United States tariffs on aluminium and steel. As per a WTO document, China has now fulfilled its legal duty to notify the WTO and other member states of its retaliatory measures, reported the South China Morning Post.

Earlier on April 2, China declared to impose trade tariffs on the United States goods worth USD 3 billion. This is being touted as a "countermeasure" by Beijing in response to the trade tariffs by Washington D.C. On March 23, US President Donald Trump imposed massive trade tariffs amounting to USD 60 billion on China, in an effort to stop the latter from stealing "intellectual property" from American companies.

The US had last month passed an order imposing 25 percent tariffs imposed upon steel and aluminium imports on China. The new order would see a 25 percent tariff on imports of steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminium. As per the Chinese Finance Ministry, the steps taken by the US are in violation of WTO rules and have severely undermined China's interests. "China advocates and supports a multilateral trade system," Ministry said, underlining that to suspend tariff concessions on US goods, it was a move to safeguard Beijing's interests using WTO rules, as reported by the Xinhua News Agency.