China will resolutely respond to US reciprocal tariffs, state media says

BEIJING (Reuters) -China will take resolute countermeasures if the United States harm the country's interests with its upcoming reciprocal tariffs, a social media account affiliated with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Friday.

If the U.S. wants to discuss cooperation with China, mutual respect is a prerequisite, the account Yuyuan Tantian said in a post on Weibo.

The comments came after China's economy tsar, Vice Premier He Lifeng and the U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer held "candid talks" on trade issues in a video call on Wednesday.

During the call, He expressed China's "solemn concerns" over existing and proposed U.S. tariffs and urged Washington to resolve both sides' concerns, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

Following the meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters he would be willing to reduce tariffs on China to get a deal done with TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the short video app used by 170 million Americans.

Trump is set to unveil his "reciprocal" tariffs designed to address trade imbalances on April 2, potentially hitting Chinese goods with additional duties.

Since taking office in January, Trump has already levied 20% tariffs on all Chinese imports, citing Beijing's failure to stem the outflow of fentanyl precursors.

The U.S. also added dozens of Chinese entities to its export restriction list on Tuesday, further ratcheting up tensions with Beijing.

China has responded to U.S. tariffs by targeting some U.S. imports including coal, liquefied natural gas, and agricultural products with up to 15% duties.

(Reporting by Ethan Wang, Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo; editing by David Evans and Louise Heavens)