New Delhi, April 12 -- China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told the head of the World Trade Organization that US tariffs will "inflict serious harm" on poor nations, according to a ministry statement released Saturday.

US and China have been trading salvos of increasingly higher tariffs this month, raising fears of an intensifying trade war between the world's two largest economies that has sent global markets into a tailspin.

Economists warn that the disruption in trade between the tightly integrated US and Chinese economies will increase prices for consumers and could spark a global recession.

"These US 'reciprocal tariffs' will inflict serious harm on developing countries, especially the least developed countries, and could even t...