The United States on Thursday said it would restrict exports of civilian nuclear technology to China amid apprehensions that Beijing was diverting it for military and other unauthorised purposes, AFP reported.

In a statement, the US Energy Department said it would make it more difficult to export nuclear technology to China. “The United States cannot ignore the national security implications of China’s efforts to obtain nuclear technology outside of established processes of US-China civil nuclear cooperation,” said Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

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“These efforts are necessary to strike an appropriate balance between the long-term risk to US national security and economic interests, as well as the immediate impact to the US nuclear industrial base,” said the statement.

The US reviews nuclear exports through the department’s Part 810 authorisation, which verifies that the technology is meant for peaceful purposes and will not be exported to another country for use.

“For decades, China has maintained a concerted, central government-run strategy to acquire nuclear technology to gain economic advantage,” said an unidentified US official.

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Earlier on Thursday, President Donald Trump said that the administration could take more steps to hurt the Chinese economy, Reuters reported. The US and China are engaged in a trade war, with both countries increasing tariffs on goods imported from the other.

Trump said that the increase in tariffs had a “big impact”. “Their economy has gone down very substantially and I have a lot more to do if I want to do it,” he said. “I don’t want to do it but they have to come to the table.”

On Wednesday, China sought India’s cooperation to counter the growing threat of trade protectionism pushed by Trump in the backdrop of the US government reworking trade arrangements with other countries to ensure bigger markets for its products.