China says that it has been forced to take a necessary counterattack against the United States because of recent U.S. import taxes on Chinese products. The U.S. government recently placed tariffs on Chinese imports worth about $34 billion. American President Donald Trump approved import taxes of 25 percent on more than 800 Chinese products. The tariffs began Friday. China criticized what it called trade bullying, and warned the tariffs could start worldwide market unrest. The Chinese government also warned it would react immediately and strongly to new tariffs. The Chinese Commerce Ministry said Friday the Chinese side promised not to act first. But it said that in order to defend the central interests of the country and people it was forced to make a necessary counterattack. Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters Thursday that China will not back down to threats.