“China opposes Washington’s request that the Group of Seven (G7) and Nato countries impose secondary tariffs on Chinese imports over its purchase of Russian oil,” China’s commerce ministry said today, calling it “a classic example of unilateral bullying and economic coercion”.

Officials from China and the US today entered a second day of talks in Madrid to try to seek common ground on issues including tariffs and a US demand for divestment from TikTok by Chinese owner ByteDance.

Adding to tensions between the two countries, China’s market regulator said today a preliminary investigation found US chipmaker Nvidia had violated the country’s anti-monopoly law.

Trade ties have soured between the world’s two biggest economies despite a fragile tariff truce reached in May and extended in August, which prevented tariff rates on each other’s goods from reaching three-digit levels.

However, negotiators from the two sides still face thorny topics such as US curbs of tech and chip exports, China’s support for Russia as well as what Washington sees as insufficient efforts to stem the flow of precursor chemicals of fentanyl into the US.

In its statement, the Chinese ministry urged the US to be “prudent in words and deeds” and to solve differences through equal dialogue.