They have been criticized as an attempt by Beijing to influence US higher education.

China warned the United States on Friday that it was "not afraid of a trade war" as it threatened tariffs on $3 billion worth of USA goods in retaliation over President Donald Trump's moves against Chinese imports.

The call between Mr. Mnuchin and Mr. Liu, a confidante of President Xi Jinping, was the highest-level contact between the two governments since U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans for tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese goods on Thursday. It sets up yet another dramatic deadline.

The European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, Canada and Mexico will get initial exemptions from looming steel and aluminum tariffs from the Trump administration. He added: "China is going to end up treating us fairly".

To target China, Trump dusted off a Cold War weapon for trade disputes: Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, which lets the president unilaterally impose tariffs. It gave no indication of a possible response but a foreign ministry spokeswoman said Beijing was "fully prepared to defend" its interests.

A former Chinese finance minister said at the China Development Forum in Beijing that the commerce ministry's response so far had been relatively weak.

The dollar dipped to 104.90 yen as investors shifted into the Japanese currency, which is viewed as a "safe haven" from risk. And some of his supporters have argued that Trump's policies - especially his willingness to break with long-standing allies in Asia on trade - have presented China with an opportunity to make great strides toward that goal.

On Friday, China unveiled tariffs on $3 billion of US imports in response to steel and aluminum duties ordered by Trump earlier this month.

But Trump's team is right that what he has done so far - about $100 billion in tariffs on steel, solar panels, aluminum and China, according to Goldman Sachs estimates - is modest.

The United States launched today a challenge at the World Trade Organization against China over intellectual property breaches, a statement said.

Despite Trump's confident words, business groups and Republican lawmakers are anxious his tariffs could undercut actions they have welcomed in his first year.

US agricultural products, particularly soybeans, have been flagged as the biggest area of potential retaliation by Chinese President Xi Jinping's administration.

"It now provides us with the breathing room to find a more permanent solution".

Tear Gas Released In Kosovo Parliament During Fierce Debate
Kosovo's opposition lawmakers release a tear gas canister inside the country's parliament in Pristina on March 21, 2018 . But a parliament majority can't be secured unless enough votes are gathered from the opposition ranks.

The ministry said it could sanction more than 120 U.S. goods, including American nuts and wines.

China threatened retaliation, and Wall Street cringed, recording one of the biggest drops of Trump's presidency.

Betty Wang, an economist at ANZ bank, said China's reaction is "relatively mild".

"The Chinese side urges the USA side to resolve the concerns of the Chinese side as soon as possible", it said.

Adam Posen, head of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, warns this could turn out to be the economic equivalent of "Trump's Afghanistan", a costly mistake that damages the economy and hamstrings America's future by souring relations with the rest of the world.

But a senior United States official later said that Washington was "not interested in creating terms for a dialogue".

The official cited Beijing's "Made in China 2025" plan as "hugely problematic". Business groups complain it will hamper or outright block foreign access to those industries.

The measures are to "balance out the loss sustained by China" through Washington's move to impose steel and aluminium tariffs on imports, the ministry continued. A second list of goods including wine, apples, ethanol and stainless steel pipe would be charged 15 percent. "We will retaliate. If people want to play tough, we will play tough with them and see who will last longer", Chinese ambassador Cui Tiankai said in a video posted to the embassy's Facebook page.

As the following graphic shows, the frequency of Trump's tweets touting the stock market upswing increased towards the second half of 2017 as the S&P 500, a broad index of USA stock prices, hit a series of record highs. "It is time for China to take remedial action and show that it is a true partner in global trade".

Over all, United States farmers shipped almost $20 billion of goods to China in 2017. There was no explanation of the difference between that figure and Trump's $60 billion.

Earlier on Friday, US President Trump signed an order that could also result in restrictions on Chinese investment in the US, saying it would be the "first of many" trade actions.

"It is the largest deficit in the history of the world, it's out of control", he said. But websites of Chinese units, along with Chinese media reports, indicate that they produce such devices as smartphones, personal computers, servers and smart speakers for American customers including Amazon.com, Dell, HP, Microsoft and IBM.

China is unlikely to respond until Washington acts but might launch an investigation of imports of US corn and soybeans "as a warning shot", said Parker.