BEIJING (REUTERS) – China will levy tariffs on about US$60 billion worth of US goods in retaliation for new US tariffs, as previously planned, but has reduced the volume of tariffs that it will collect on the products.

The tariff rates will be levied at 5 and 10 per cent, instead of the previously proposed rates of 5, 10, 20 and 25 per cent, the Finance Ministry said on its website late on Tuesday.

China will impose a 10 per cent tariff on US products it previously designated for a rate of 20 and 25 per cent. Liquefied natural gas (LNG), for example, was previously under the 25 per cent tariff category but now will be subject to a tariff of 10 per cent.

The new tariff measures will take effect on Sept 24, the date when the Trump administration says it will begin to levy new tariffs of 10 per cent on US$200 billion of Chinese products.

The tit-for-tat measures are the latest escalation in an increasingly protracted trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.