China's state media has rallied against the United States warning its trade protectionism actions would end in defeat and that the only option now was to hit the United States hard enough so it will "remember the pain".

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"If the US says that it will pay any price, it must be firmly attacked," China's official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

China warned on Friday it was ready with a "fierce counter strike" of fresh trade measures if the United States follows through on US President Donald Trump's threat to slap tariffs on an additional $100 billion of Chinese goods.

On Wednesday, China imposed $3 billion of tariffs on US fruits, nuts, wine and pork, just hours after the Trump administration proposed duties on some 1,300 Chinese industrial, technology, transport and medical products.

Also read: US-China trade rift could squeeze growth and hurt consumers

Rising trade tensions between the world's two largest economies follow the US finding that China was engaging in unfair trade practices in connection with intellectual property protections. China rejects the charge.

China's media, which is strictly controlled by the government, has come out in defence of the country, painting the country as a victim of an overly aggressive United States bent on taking illegitimate unilateral action.

"The White House has completely lost its sense of reality!," said the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper in a Friday commentary, alleging the United States is acting unilaterally and engaging in trade protectionism.

Meanwhile, the nationalist Global Times said in an editorial published late on Thursday that the "Chinese are aware that the only option now is to hit the US hard enough so that it will remember the pain."