It's been a month since Beijing accused Washington of launching the largest trade war in economic history. The US argues it wants to put an end to unfair trade practices. China says tariffs won't heal the US trade deficit. And although there are some channels of communication- it's not clear if the two sides will reach a compromise. CGTN's Owen Fairclough reports.

This was the moment a trade dispute became something bigger.

GAO FENG CHINESE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE "The U.S. is provoking this trade war and we do not wish to fight. But in order to safeguard the interests of the country and the people, we have to fight if necessary."

China retaliated with tariffs on 34 billion dollars of American imports after the U.S. did the same-the world's two biggest economies now hitting each other with duties on thousands of products. A month on, both sides are suffering the effects.

XU WEI SHANGHAI NEW SOURCE INT'L TRADING COMPANY "We used to pay just 24 percent tariffs for U.S. pork in China. But now the taxes have risen to over 50 percent. So there's great impact."

U.S. automakers like GM - that build cars in China and then bring them home to sell - are also worried about the bottom line. And farmers are also suffering. Their exports to China drying up after they were hit with steep taxes.

WILLIAM DELONG VICE PRESIDENT, DELONG COMPANY "This year, when our soybeans are harvested in October and November, we anticipate that we'll have no sales, this coming year, to China. That we won't have any, just because of the tariffs."

And yet that hasn't stopped Donald Trump rallying his base by telling them:

DONALD TRUMP US PRESIDENT "You know what our farmers are saying It's okay. We can take it."

But if farmers are struggling U.S. investors, while rattled, seem to be coping as the U.S. posts strong economic growth. The main Dow Jones index has even climbed higher since the trade war started in earnest a month ago.

OWEN FAIRCLOUGH WASHINGTON DC "And yet if these two sides cannot resolve their differences, there are more tariffs ahead. Trump says he is poised to hit China with duties on an extra 200 billion dollars of goods. That would amount to taxing half of China's exports to the U.S.-while Beijing says it's ready to respond with tariffs on an additional 60 billion in U.S. goods. OWEN FAIRCLOUGH , CGTN, Washington.