China vowed on Tuesday to fight to the "bitter end" if the United States pushes a trade war, after Washington and Beijing exchanged a salvo of tariffs.

"If the United States... persists in waging a tariff war, a trade war, or any other kind of war, the Chinese side will fight them to the bitter end," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the lifting of U.S. economic sanctions on Russia was a prerequisite for normalizing ties between the two countries.

"Of course, if we're talking about normalizing bilateral relations, these relations must be free of the negative burden of sanctions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily press briefing.

Shares were mostly higher in Europe and Asia on Monday, helped by strong Chinese factory data, following Friday's rally on Wall Street.

Germany's DAX added 0.5% to 22,658.00, while the CAC 40 in Paris was up less than 0.1% at 8,115,97.

Chinese manufacturers reported an uptick in orders in February as importers rushed to beat higher U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, as a Chinese state media report said that Beijing was considering ways to retaliate.

Trump earlier imposed a tariff of 10% on imports from China and that will rise to 20% beginning Tuesday. He also ended the "de minimis" loophole that exempted imports worth less than $800 from tariffs, in a blow to companies whose online sales direct to consumers had soared in recent years.

Elon Musk's car company is required each year to report to investors all the bad things that could happen to it, and the latest version lists every imaginable threat from costly lawsuits to out-of-control battery fires to war and another epidemic.

But there's barely any mention in the latest annual update of Musk's full-bore entry into right-wing politics, which some experts say is turning off potential customers who don't share his views.

Eurozone inflation edged down slightly in February to 2.4 percent thanks to a slowdown in energy price increases, official data showed on Monday.

Last month's rate was down from 2.5 percent in January, but it came in higher than the 2.3 percent predicted by analysts for financial data firm FactSet.

Germany's inflation rate remained stable in February at 2.3 percent, preliminary data showed Friday, leaving the door open for the European Central Bank to ease rates at its meeting next week.

The annual inflation rate in Europe's largest economy was in line with the expectations of analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet.

Shares in Japan and South Korea closed sharply lower on Friday as US President Donald Trump's volley of tariff measures sparked fresh fears about a global trade war.

Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 2.88 percent at 37,155.50, while in Seoul the Kospi ended 3.39 percent lower at 2,532.78. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was off 3.47 percent in afternoon trade.

China warned on Friday that an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports by the United States would "seriously impact dialogue" between the two countries on narcotics control, accusing Washington of "blackmail".

"Pressure, coercion and threats are not the correct way to deal with China. Mutual respect is the basic premise," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

French Finance Minister Eric Lombard told AFP on Thursday that the European Union would "do the same" if the United States maintains 25 percent tariffs announced by President Donald Trump.

"It is clear that if the Americans maintain the tariff hikes, as President Trump announced, the EU will do the same," Lombard said on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers meeting in Cape Town.