Existing American tariffs already restrict steel and aluminum shipments from China, which is now flooding other markets with its exports instead.

China will impose a 15 per cent tariff on coal and LNG products and 10 per cent on crude oil and other products in response.

The rapid-fire shots of tariffs and import curbs hearken back to Trump’s first term in office, when the U.S. and China engaged in a trade war that spanned most of Trump’s first four years in office and was continued to a certain extent under his successor,