China files complaint with WTO over new US tariffs

GENEVA (Reuters) - China said it had opened a formal complaint against the new U.S. tariffs with the World Trade Organization on Friday, saying the measures violate WTO rules and requesting consultations.

Earlier, China announced retaliatory additional tariffs of 34% on U.S. goods, the most serious escalation in a trade war with President Donald Trump that has fed fears of a recession and touched off a global stock market rout.

"China has filed the WTO complaint with respect to the United States' measures," the Permanent Mission of China to the World Trade Organization said in a statement.

The new tariffs blatantly violate WTO rules, it added.

In the standoff between the world's top two economies, Beijing also announced controls on exports of some rare earths which it dominates, potentially cutting the U.S. off from critical minerals vital to everything from smartphones to electric car batteries and defence.

Trump on Wednesday announced China would be hit with a 34% tariff, on top of the 20% he previously imposed earlier this year, bringing the total new levies to 54% and close to the 60% figure he had threatened while on the campaign trail.

Chinese exporters, like those from other economies around the world, will face a 10% baseline tariff, as part of the new 34% levy, on almost all goods shipped to the world's largest consumer economy from Saturday before the remaining, higher "reciprocal tariffs" take effect from April 9.

China on Thursday urged the United States to immediately cancel its latest tariffs.

The WTO Secretariat confirmed to Reuters on Friday that it had received the request for consultations from China.

Bilateral consultations are the first stage of formal dispute settlement. If no solution is found within 60 days, China could request adjudication by the Geneva-based organisation's Dispute Settlement Body.

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin,; Editing by Ludwig Burger, Thomas Seythal and Elaine Hardcastle)