White House made chilling comment after Donald Trump paused Liberation Day tariffs for all countries other than China

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has made the US' stance clear when asked about Donald Trump's decision to engage in a trade war with China.

After tanking global stock markets with his universally unpopular 'Liberation Day' tariffs, which saw the US president impose tariffs on penguins, Trump has unsurprisingly done a U-turn on the policy.

The move comes just days after Trump had branded rumours about a pause on tariffs as 'fake news'.

However the sudden change of heart doesn't apply to his ongoing mission to one-up China, as the two nations continue to pile tariffs onto each other in a global trade tit-for-tat.

Confirming his decision to raise tariffs on the East Asian nation again, Trump lashed out at China's supposed 'lack of respect' and stated that it warranted a further increase.

The US-Chine trade war rumbles on (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Which takes the current tariffs imposed on China by the United States as 125 percent at the time of writing, with China responding by hitting US goods with an 84 percent levy.

Moments after Trump confirmed that tariffs would be paused for everyone except China, press secretary Karoline Leavitt backed the president up with some fighting talk of her own and declared the US punches 'harder'.

Explaining the decision to raise tariffs as a response to China 'imprudently' reacting, she said: "When you punch at the United States of America, President Trump is going to punch back harder."

And with that, the US-China trade bust-up rumbles on with no end in sight.

China has since filed a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) expressing 'grave concern and firm opposition to this reckless move', although it's unlikely this will deter Trump from his end goal.

China has also slammed the US tariffs as 'blackmail', with a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce vowing to 'fight to the end'.

Despite slapping Chinese imports with major tariffs, Trump has called China's President Xi Jinping a 'friend of mine'.

"President Xi... I like him," Trump responded while answering questions in the Oval Office.

The US leader then said he is open to making deals before declaring that he wants to do what's best for the US... and the world.

"We also want to do what's right for the world," he told reporters, adding: "The world is important... It's the world right?"

Truly a motivational statement for the ages.

"Xi is a smart guy and we'll end up making a very good deal," he later added, suggesting there may very well be a way back from the brink after all.