We start with trade tensions between China and the United States. Ahead of the Trump administration's planned tariffs on 34 billion dollars of Chinese goods on Friday, China's Ministry of Commerce says once again that China does NOT want to see a trade war. BUT, it adds that China is prepared to take comprehensive measures against US tariffs if necessary. LILY LYU explains.

Trade tensions between the world's two largest economies are reaching a boiling point. China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday slammed the US decision to impose tariffs on Chinese goods as trade hegemony, which goes against global trends. The Ministry stood firm on China's stance of not backing down to US unilateralism and will continue to uphold the global multilateral trading system.

China Commerce Ministry notes that nearly 60-percent of goods that will be subject to US tariffs actually comes from foreign firms based in China. That's worth around 20 billion US dollars. US tariffs are not just hitting Chinese products, but negatively impacts the entire global value chain.

US President Donald Trump first announced to slap import duties on 50 billion dollars of Chinese goods in March for what his administration claims as China's intellectual property violations. The tariffs will be rolled out in two stages. Over 800 exports, worth 34 billion dollars will be subject to tariffs Friday. The remaining 16 billion dollars, covering 280 or so product categories still need to undergo a public comment period and will come into effect later.