China warned on Tuesday that "no one will win a trade war" after US President-elect Donald Trump vowed to raise tariffs on goods from China and elsewhere.

"China believes that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature," Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the United States, said in an email to AFP.

Trump said he intends to impose sweeping tariffs on goods from China, Canada and Mexico in response to illegal drug trade and immigration.

In a series of posts to his Truth Social account, Trump vowed to hit some of Washington's largest trading partners with duties on all goods entering the country.

"On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25 percent tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders," he wrote.

In another post, Trump said he would be slapping China with a 10 percent tariff, "above any additional Tariffs," on all of its products entering the US in response to what he said was its failure to tackle fentanyl smuggling.

In Canberra, China's ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, said on Tuesday that the US policy on trade with China and other countries would have an impact on relations between China and Australia.

"US policy on trade with China, with other countries as well, will have an impact and that is an important element that we have to consider," Xiao told a press conference in Canberra, in response to a question on whether potential tariffs by Trump would impact China and Australia's bilateral relationship.

Canada described its trade relationship with the US "mutually beneficial".

"We will of course continue to discuss these issues with the incoming administration," said a statement from Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Many economists have warned that tariffs would hurt growth and push up inflation, since they are primarily paid by importers bringing the goods into the US, who often pass those costs on to consumers.

But those in Trump's inner circle have insisted that the tariffs are a useful bargaining chip for the US to use to push its trading partners to agree to more favourable terms, and to bring back manufacturing jobs from overseas. (Agencies)
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Last updated: 2024-11-26 HKT 12:14