China prepared to defend its interests from US tariffs

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China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Friday that the country’s stance on China-US trade is unchanged as China does not want a trade war but is fully prepared to defend its interests.

"We are fully prepared to firmly defend our legitimate interests… We are confident and capable of dealing with any kind of challenges. We hope the US will think more before dragging our trade relations into a difficult situation,” Hua said at a daily presser.

US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Thursday that could impose tariffs on up to 60 billion US dollars worth of imports from China, driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P, the Nasdaq Composite as well as other major industrials down, as the fear of trade war increased.

Hua commented that the plugging of three major indexes, following the US decision to hike tariffs on China’s steel and aluminum imports, is a clear sign of distrust in financial markets about the US side’s decision.

Immediately after Thursday's announcement came out, the Chinese embassy in the US said China does not want a trade war but is not afraid of one.

"If a trade war were initiated by the United States, China would fight to the end to defend its own legitimate interests with all necessary measures," said the embassy in a statement shortly after the announcement came out.

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) also slammed US measures on Friday for violating the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, adding China’s planning to impose tariffs on 128 types of US import, totaling an estimated three billion US dollars.