(Photo: AP)

Trump’s move, announced on Twitter, came hours after China unveiled retaliatory tariffs on 75 billion USD worth of US goods, prompting the president earlier in the day to demand US companies move their operations out of China. American companies are ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing their companies home and making their products in the US, Trump said. 

China’s Commerce Ministry said that in September and December it will impose additional tariffs of 5% or 10% on more than 5,000 products originating from the United States including agricultural products such as soybeans, beef and pork, and small aircraft.

Trump accused China of intellectual property theft, causing lost of hundreds of billion dollars each year, adding that he will not let it continue and the US does not need China.