Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said China doesn't want a trade war with the US or with anybody else, but China is not afraid of it.

"If somebody tries to impose a trade war upon us, we will fight. We will do whatever we can to defend the legitimate interests. We will also do whatever we can to safeguard the open global trading system," he said in a video posted on the embassy Facebook account.

"Let me assure those people who intend to fight a trade war. We will certainly fight back. We will retaliate. If people want to play tough, we will play tough with them, and see who will last longer," he said, in response to US President Trump's signing of a memorandum on Thursday authorizing punitive annual tariffs of up to $60 billion on Chinese exports under a Section 301 case on Chinese intellectual property policies and practices.