FILE PHOTO: A security officer keeps watch at U.S. food booths at SIAL food innovation exhibition, in Shanghai, China, May 14, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday the United States was defining the two countries’ dispute over trade as a trade war, and China was only taking action in self-defense.

Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comments at a daily news briefing in Beijing.