China said on Thursday if the United States persists in the “tariff numbers game,” it would “not care about it,” according to Reuters. The remarks from China’s foreign ministry were in response to the White House claiming that China now faces tariffs as high as 245% as a result of its retaliatory actions.

Trump’s administration announced a massive new tariff on Chinese imports at up to 245%, significantly intensifying the trade war between the US and China. The announcement was outlined in a fact sheet from the White House on late Tuesday evening.

“More than 75 countries have already reached out to discuss new trade deals. As a result, the individualised higher tariffs are currently paused amid these discussions, except for China, which retaliated,” it said.

“China now faces up to a 245% tariff on imports to the United States as a result of its retaliatory actions,” the fact sheet said, without giving details.

The White House, in the fact sheet, also charged Beijing with banning the sale to the US of gallium, germanium, antimony, and other important high-tech materials with possible military uses.

“Just this week, China suspended exports of six heavy rare earth metals, as well as rare earth magnets, in order to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world,” it added.

China last week raised its additional import tariffs on US goods to 125 per cent in retaliation to the Trump administration’s law of raising tariffs on Chinese goods to 145%. It also filed a complaint with the WTO in response to the US tariff increases. Beijing said American tariffs go “against the whole world” and would “seriously damage the rules-based multilateral trading system”.