Any possibility of a trade war between China and the U.S. would cause enormous pain for both the economies, China's Commerce Minister Zhong Shan warned on Saturday as the reports of President Donald Trump's administration working on anti-trade policies against China continues to gather steam.

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"A trade war would not benefit either country or either country's people, you could say it would have no advantage whatsoever," Zong told reporters on the sidelines of the annual Chinese parliament session.    

Zong sought to break the popular myth among Americans that "China can't live without the United States" as he pointed out "that's only half true." He clarified that "U.S. exports to China has outpaced the growth of Chinese exports to the United States" over the years, suggesting that a trade war will hurt the U.S. exporters more.   

The Chinese commerce minister said that he is looking forward to meeting his U.S. counterpart Wilbur Ross, who was sworn-in recently as the new U.S. commerce secretary. Ross is widely considered to be the main man behind President Donald Trump's vehement opposition to multilateral trade deals.

Zong's comment about the trade war comes exactly a day after the U.S. Aluminum Association filed an anti-dumping petition against the Chinese aluminum foil manufacturers. The proceeding marks the first ant-dumping complaint against China under the new Trump administration and also a definite signal that the new U.S. regime has taken the first step in initiating a trade war against the second largest economy.

Trump has rarely ever minced any words while expressing his displeasure against China's controversial trade practices. His vicarious criticism of China's alleged currency manipulation and dumping practices during last year's election campaign left a sore feeling among the Chinese leadership.

TagsU.S. Exporters, U.S. and China, china, U.S. and China Trade War, China Trade War