China will take all necessary measures to defend its lawful rights and interests, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stressed on Wednesday.

"China believes that protectionism leads nowhere, and trade and tariff wars have no winners. This has been widely recognized in the international community," Mao said at a daily briefing in response to a query about U.S. President Donald Trump having rolled out 25-percent additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

"What the United States did severely violates the WTO rules, harms the rules-based multilateral trading system, and does no good to solving problems. China will take all necessary measures to defend its lawful rights and interests," Mao said.