China tells Trump: We don’t want a trade war, but U.S. firms would suffer most

China’s premier told the United States on Wednesday: We don’t want a trade war with you, but your companies would bear the brunt if one breaks out.

Despite tensions over jobs, currency rates and “security matters,” Li Keqiang told a news conference in Beijing that he remained optimistic about the future of China’s relationship with the United States.

“Our hope on the Chinese side is that, no matter what bumps this relationship may run into, it will continue to move forward in a positive direction,” he said.

The two countries share extensive common interests and should “sit down to talk to each other” to build trust and narrow differences, Li told journalists at the end of China’s annual parliamentary session, adding that diplomats were working toward a face-to-face meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Trump.

Experts say China has been pushing hard to arrange such a meeting, realizing how important personal chemistry between the two leaders could be in maintaining stable ties, and the Axios website reported that one has been tentatively scheduled for April 6-7 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.

Premier Li said China’s trade and investment ties with the United States created up to one million American jobs last year.

“Recently I came across an article from an authoritative international think tank. It says that should a trade war break out between China and the United States, it would be foreign-invested companies, in particular U.S. firms, that would bear the brunt of it,” he said.

“We don't want to see any trade war breaking out between the two countries. That wouldn’t make our trade fairer,” he added.

Trump launched a constant volley of complaints against China on the campaign trail, denouncing it for stealing American jobs, manipulating its currency, militarizing the South China Sea and not doing enough to rein in North Korea’s nuclear program.

He then upset Beijing by accepting a phone call from Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen after his election and publicly questioning whether the United States should maintain its one-China policy.

But he eventually backed away from that fight, agreeing to honor the one-China policy during a phone call with Xi in February.

Li reiterated that the one-China policy was the “political foundation” of China-U.S. relations and could not be undermined.

“With that foundation in place, we believe there are bright prospects for China-U.S. cooperation,” he said.

Li also repeated his country’s call for dialogue to lower tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

“Tensions may lead to conflict which would only bring harm to all the parties involved,” he said. “It’s just common sense that no one wants to see chaos on his doorstep.”