Cisco Systems said on Wednesday that it had slashed its manufacturing in China in anticipation of higher import tariffs levied in the US, as it laid out a financial forecast that showed it did not expect to be hurt by the deepening trade war.

The maker of networking equipment has been among the US tech companies most in the line of fire, with many different types of data centre equipment included on a list of imports from China that have been subjected to a higher, 25 per cent tariff since the end of last week.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Chuck Robbins, chief executive, said the company had started planning for the higher tariffs last summer, when the White House put a 10 per cent levy on many of its products, with a threat to increase the rate to 25 per cent later.