China is very disappointed in Washington's breach of trust after the White House announced plans to impose an extra tariff on imports from China and will possibly come out with countermeasures to combat the US decision, the Global Times has learned from a well-informed source.

"China always has a Plan B and won't fight the battle unprepared," the source told the Global Times Friday who asked to speak on condition of anonymity, adding the Chinese government is frustrated by the White House's latest flip-flop of its positions just one month after their agreement reached at G20 summit in Japan in late June. 

Analysts predict the countermeasures could include tariffs, strict restriction of rare earths imports to the US, and putting some US companies encroaching on Chinese interests on the Unreliable Entity List that China's Ministry of Commerce has been working on. 

On Thursday, the White House announced that the US will impose an extra 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports starting September 1, although it said the latest round of trade talks in Shanghai was "constructive" and was looking forward to more "positive dialogues" in August.

The renewed threatening tactic of the White House is casting cloud on their trade consultations previously planned in August and September, analysts say. 

The threatened punitive tariff, unlike previous ones, is targeting a wider variety of consumer goods and has a strong potential to inflict rising pains on the everyday life of ordinary US citizens. 

According to Matt Priest, president of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, the new tariff is in fact "using American families as a hostage" in Trump's ugly trade war with China. 

The arbitrary nature of the US flip-flop demonstrates Washington's untrustworthiness and its disturbing propensity for bullying, said the Xinhua News Agency. And, a broader trade war will create more troubles for the recovery of the global economy. 

Washington's decision on Thursday also upset the US market, as the S&P 500 posted its worst week of 2019 amid the rising trade tensions. Investors rattled by the latest escalation drove selling on Wall Street on Friday, with losses marking the fifth straight drop for the S&P 500. Many US companies have already felt the pain from a rattled market.

Global Times