China immediately slapped retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports on Friday after the U.S. imposed duties on $34 billion worth of Chinese products, signaling the start of a full-blown trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

President Donald Trump’s administration imposed the promised tariffs at midnight Washington time. That prompted Beijing to respond in kind with levies on U.S. imports.

China's Foreign Ministry did not provide any immediate detail on the implementation or scale of these duties, but the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, said they were imposed on a list of $34 billion in goods issued last month that included soybeans, pork and electric vehicles.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that Beijing's tariff rate on U.S. goods, 25 percent, was equal to Washington's rate on Chinese imports.

A spokesperson at China’s Ministry of Commerce said Friday that while the Asian nation had refused to "fire the first shot," it was being forced to respond after the U.S. had "launched the largest trade war in economic history."

“This act is typical trade bullying,” the spokesperson said. “It seriously jeopardizes the global industrial chain … hinders the pace of global economic recovery, triggers global market turmoil and will affect more innocent multinational companies, general companies and consumers.”

The Commerce Ministry also said it would look to report the U.S. to the World Trade Organization on Friday, accusing Washington of breaching international trade laws.