MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday during a visit to China that U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles were an example of unfair competition.

"Unfortunately, the way the world works today, sometimes situations arise related to unfair competition. This is how the Americans recently imposed sanctions on China on electric transport, on electric cars," said Putin.

"Why? Because Chinese cars have got better," he said.

Putin is in China on a visit designed to further deepen the relationship between the two most powerful rivals of the United States.

Washington this week hiked tariffs on $18 billion in Chinese goods including electric vehicles, batteries, semiconductors, steel, aluminium, critical minerals, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, and medical products, while retaining Trump-era tariffs on over $300 billion in goods.