At midnight Washington time, the U.S. imposed new tariffs on $34 billion of annual imports from China. That prompted Beijing to respond in kind with levy tariffs on U.S. imports, China’s foreign ministry said Friday, though it did not provide any immediate detail on the implementation or scale of these charges.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported the country’s tariff rate on U.S. goods, at 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 giant 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.”