During a daily press conference, Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that it is the US who has provoked the trade war, adding that China will never fire the first shot, but if the US implements tax measures China will be forced to respond.
News reports suggested earlier that Chinese tariffs on $34 billion worth of US goods were going to come into force on Friday, July 6, in retaliation for the US decision to implement tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports.