China tells Donald Trump to ‘stop whining’ amid trade war after US president raised tariffs to 245%

China has told Donald Trump to 'stop whining' after he cranked up the tariffs on them to 245 percent for certain items.

Now, Americans importing things made in China will have to pay the US government up to 245 percent the value of the thing on top of actually buying it.

Naturally they'll be passing this increase in costs down the line until the consumer foots the bill in the form of higher prices.

At a certain point, the tariffs get high enough that it pretty much makes trade impossible and whatever number they stick on them won't really mean much because people simply won't buy.

Americans will have to buy from somewhere else, provided there is an alternative (if there isn't then it sucks to be them), while China will try to find other markets for its goods.

US tariffs on China are as high as 245 percent in some cases (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The White House said the increased tariffs on China are 'as a result of its retaliatory actions', referring to the way China has responded to having higher levels of tariffs placed on it by the US by imposing tariffs of their own.

China has said it is 'not afraid to fight' a trade war with the US, and the world's two biggest economies going at it, it's pretty bad news for everyone else.

It's possible that not all tariffs are going to be at 245 percent, and there are some items which may be exempt to spare Americans the massive shock of iPhones suddenly becoming more expensive.

Meanwhile, China has denounced the ever higher tariffs as a 'meaningless numbers game' and according to NBC is not planning on raising tariffs on US goods beyond their current level of 125 percent.

The country's official state media has hit out at the US, telling Trump to 'stop whining' and insisting that America is now complaining after 'taking a free ride on the globalisation train'.

China has said America needs to 'stop whining' (NHAC NGUYEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

While Trump has claimed that the US has been 'ripped off' for decades, China's state media responded by saying: "The US is not getting ripped off by anybody.

"The problem is the US has been living beyond its means for decades. It consumes more than it produces. It has outsourced its manufacturing and borrowed money in order to have a higher standard of living than it’s entitled to based on its productivity.

"Rather than being ‘cheated’, the US has been taking a free ride on the globalisation train.

"The US should stop whining about itself being a victim in global trade and put an end to its capricious and destructive behaviour."

Trump has claimed that his tariffs are bringing in $2 billion a day, but NBC reports that US officials have said that between 5 and 14 April it was more like $500 million in total, and that they've made $21 billion since Trump's inauguration in January this year.

In other words, nowhere near close to the claim of $2 billion a day.