(Yicai Global) June 21 -- China has stepped up its rhetorics regarding a US trade tiff while saying that the US is accustomed to holding "big sticks" in negotiations, which will not work with the Asian nation that will respond with both "quantitative and qualitative" measures if the deemed tariff list will be implemented.

The US has been capricious, while escalating its trade issues with China and prompted a trade war, said China's commerce ministry's spokesman Gao Feng in a press briefing today, adding that China has to respond in a strong manner.

US President Donald Trump has proposed targeting USD450 billion worth of Chinese exports to the US due to intellectual copyright issues and large trade deficit. China exported USD505 billion in goods to the US last year, so the ultimatum covers about 89 percent of this number.

US's unilateral protectionist measures will ultimately hurt the interests of American businesses, workers and farmers, as well as the world economy, said Gao. As objections grow, China hopes the US can face up to such calls and return to the correct path, he added.

Commodity futures of soybean, the single most valuable US agricultural export product to China, dropped 2.3 percent last Friday and hit their lowest price in a year after Trump announced the tariffs which could disrupt trading of the product used for pig feed and making cooking oil.

If the US releases the so-called list of tariffs on USD200 billion of Chinese imports and adopts practices that will distort international trade and lead to unfair trading, China is already fully prepared to respond in a strong manner with a mix of both quantitative and qualitative tools to resolutely protect the interests of the country and its people, said Gao.

China will face the disputes very directly, no matter what attitude the US takes, and will push forward with reform and opening up at its planned pace, Gao concluded.

Editor: Emmi Laine