China in anti-'bullying' push amid tensions with US

China's foreign minister is warning Global South nations that "unilateral bullying" is hurting a rules-based world, as Beijing keeps up the diplomatic pressure on US President Donald Trump to roll back his punitive trade tariffs.

Power politics and unilateral bullying were undermining international rules and creating divisions and confrontations, Wang Yi told a roundtable of developing country diplomats and scholars, according to a statement released by the foreign ministry on Friday.

In a written speech delivered to the event on Thursday, Wang also said the world was at a critical crossroads, and urged countries to oppose "unilateral protectionism".

He did not name the US directly in his comments.

Trump on April 2 announced "reciprocal" tariffs on many US trading partners, with China taking the biggest blow.

While levies on many countries have since been postponed for 90 days, Trump did not relent on the 145 per cent tariffs he added on Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to punch back with duties on the US.

China has also taken the lead in lobbying other countries to resist Trump's tariffs, with President Xi Jinping this week on a visit to Southeast Asia personally urging Vietnam and Cambodia, hit with US tariffs of 46 per cent and 49 per cent respectively, to oppose "unilateral bullying".

Next week, China is planning an informal United Nations Security Council meeting to accuse the US, the world's biggest economy, of bullying.

A note inviting all 193 UN member states to attend the April 23 meeting in New York specifically criticises the United States for imposing tariffs.

Some countries, such as Japan, have already started to reach out to Washington to seek a reprieve over the tariffs.

But China remains adamant that the US should show respect before any talks can take place.

Trump on Thursday signalled a potential end to the tit-for-tat tariff hikes between the US and China, saying "at a certain point" people would not want to buy things.

"So, I may not want to go higher or I may not want to even go up to that level. I may want to go to less because you know you want people to buy and, at a certain point, people aren't gonna buy," he said.