Beijing will retaliate against Washington’s raising of tariffs on Chinese imports, the Ministry of Commerce said Friday. 

The U.S. on Friday increased additional tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25% from 10%, putting an earlier threat by President Donald Trump into practice. The escalation came as high-level bilateral negotiations aimed at resolving the trade dispute were going on in Washington D.C.

“China deeply regrets” the U.S. decision and “will have to take necessary countermeasures,” the ministry said in a statement.

But Beijing still urged Washington to deal with the row through dialogue.

“We hope the U.S. will meet China halfway and make joint effort (with us) to resolve our problems through cooperation and consultations,” the statement said.

The tariff hike took effect midday Beijing time after the U.S. Trade Representative filed paperwork on the previous day to formalize Trump’s earlier threat on Twitter to raise the taxes, in which he criticized bilateral negotiations for moving “too slowly.”

See more of our coverage of China-U.S. trade disputes here.