After Trump's tariff threat, China says trade team still preparing for US talks

After US media reports said China may cancel trade talks with the US, China's foreign ministry said its trade team was still preparing to leave for Washington for the next round of talks.

"We are currently working on understanding the situation," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said, adding,"the Chinese team is currently preparing to go to the US for negotiations."

On Sunday, President Trump had tweeted asserting that he would impose renewed tariffs against China on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods this week and target hundreds of billions more soon.

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"For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods," Trump tweeted adding, "the 10% will go up to 25% on Friday."

"The trade deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!" he added.

The latest round of talks follows US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's talks with Chinese officials in Beijing last month.

As a result of President Trump's Sunday tweet on imposition of new tariffs against China, Shanghai stocks suffered their worst day in more than three years on Monday. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index sank 5.58 per cent, or 171.88 points, to 2,906.46.

Shanghai's decline was the worst in a single day since late February 2016.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index plunged 3.03 per cent, or 912.43 points, to 29,169.12 in the afternoon. Hong Kong stocks finally ended 2.90 per cent down after President Trump's tariffs threat.

China's yuan currency also suffered, losing 1.3 per cent at one point -- its heaviest drop for three years -- before recovering somewhat in the afternoon to 6.7976 to the dollar, down 0.92 per cent.

In India, the BSE Sensex opened over 400 points before recovering slightly as the blood bath in the markets continued worldwide.