Beijing released a statement today in response to President Donald Trump's plan to hit $200 billion worth of Chinese goods with another round of tariffs.

| Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo China: U.S.’s trade actions make it an ‘enemy to all’

China‘s Ministry of Commerce accused the U.S. of “slander” and said Washington is “fully responsible“ for an escalating trade war, according to a tersely worded statement Beijing released today in response to President Donald Trump's plan to hit $200 billion worth of Chinese goods with another round of tariffs.

China also strongly signaled that negotiations between the two countries are not moving in a positive direction.


“From February to June this year alone, China engaged in four rounds of high-level economic talks with the U.S., and has announced the China-U.S. Joint Statement with important consensus reached on strengthening trade and economic cooperation and avoiding a trade war,” the ministry said. “But due to domestic politics, the U.S. has gone back on its words, brazenly abandoned the bilateral consensus, and insisted on fighting a trade war with China."

The U.S. has already imposed a 25 percent tariff on roughly $34 billion worth of Chinese goods over allegations that Beijing forcefully requires U.S. companies to hand over valuable technology and steals U.S. intellectual property.

The statement says the accusations of unfair trade practices by the U.S. are “groundless."

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“Underlying problems in the American economy and society are purely caused by domestic, structural reasons in the U.S.,” the government said.

China also said its countermeasures are an inevitable response and warned that U.S. trade actions against Beijing and other countries risk endangering the global economy.

“When the U.S. willfully exits from groups based on its own interests under the pretext of 'American First,' it becomes an enemy to all,” the statement said.