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China warned the world on Thursday. The country stated that the U.S. is opening fire on everyone with the threat of increased tariffs. China said that no one would like a trade war to happen, but that it will respond to the U.S. as needed. Beijing is ramping up the rhetoric in this heated dispute.

China not Taking the First Shot

The taxes on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports will start taking effect on Friday. This will be a bit after midday in Beijing.

Donald Trump, the President of the U.S., already stated that he will escalate this trade conflict with taxes on as much as $450 billion of Chinese goods. This would hurt stocks, currencies, and even the global trade commodities, such as soybeans and coal.

China announced that it won’t attack first. However, they made it very clear that they will increase taxes on U.S. goods immediately after the U.S. taxes take effect.

Companies All Over the World are Threatened?

Gao Feng is a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman. He gave important information on the trade war at a weekly news conference. He said that these taxes would hurt even the foreign companies in China.

Gao said that if the U.S. implements higher taxes, they would be adding more taxes on companies from all over the world, including U.S. companies in China. He added that these measures are directly attacking value chains and global supply. In other words, he said that the U.S. will open fire on the entire globe, including itself.

China won’t bow down to blackmails and threats. The country will continue to defend the multilateral system and free trade, Gao added. He stated that the Chinese government will protect the rights of all foreign companies that operate in China.

Foreign companies account for 59 percent of exports from China. This is $20 billion of the total $34 billion. And U.S. companies are taking a big part of that 59 percent.

Trump’s Goal in Raising Tariffs

As President Trump stated last week, his goal is to bring manufacturing back to America. He is trying to make it more expensive for a production facility to operate on foreign soil. He’s hoping that the end result will be fewer companies leaving the U.S., and more returning or opening plants in the states.