Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying says China doesn't want to start a trade war with any country, but at the same time, does not fear one. Recently forty-five trade associations, representing a wide swath of the US economy, started petitioning the Trump administration, to halt plans to levy tariffs on China for fear that it may do harm to the US economy, consumers and competitiveness. Hua reiterated China's political stance in responding to the recent concerns over China-US trade frictions.

HUA CHUNYING FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON "China-US economic and trade relations are essentially mutually beneficial. Over 40 years, the economic and trade cooperation has provided a huge market and created mass employment for the two countries. We have never intentionally sought a trade surplus. There are no winners in the trade war."