The US tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports came into effect on Friday, July 6, while President Trump said further tariffs on another $16 billion worth of imports will go into effect in two weeks.
In response, Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement, “The United States violated the WTO rules and launched the largest trade war in economic history to date. We will promptly inform the WTO about the situation and work with countries around the world to jointly safeguard free trade and the multilateral system. At the same time, China reiterated that we will unswervingly deepen reform, expand opening up, protect entrepreneurship, strengthen property rights protection, and create a good business environment for Chinese companies in the world.”
Earlier this week, China stated that it would not be the one firing the first shot in the trade war.