China says it does not want a trade war with US

Beijing. March 5. Silkroadnews - China does not want a trade war with the United States, but will defend its interests, Zhang Yesui, Chinese Vice Foreign Ministe, said at the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress after the U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to introduce tariffs on the import of steel and aluminum, The Asahi Shimbun reports.
Last Friday, Trump said defiantly that trade wars were always a good tool and brought easy victory. The statement as made a day after he announced his intention to put 25% duty on steel imports and 10% duty on aluminum products.
Trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies have increased since Trump took office in 2017. Despite China accounts for only a small portion of steel imports to the U.S., its massive industrial expansion helped creating a global surplus of steel that lowered prices.
Negotiations and mutual opening of markets were the best ways to resolve trade frictions, Zhang said.
“China does not want to fight a trade war with the United States, but we absolutely will not sit by and watch as China's interests are damaged. If policies are made on the basis of mistaken judgments or assumptions, it will damage bilateral relations and bring about consequences that neither country wants to see,” the agency quoted him saying.  
Trump believes that tariffs will protect jobs in the U.S., but many economists say the impact of higher prices for steel users and aluminum, such as the auto and oil industries, will rather lead to the destruction of more jobs than create import restrictions.