China Holds US Responsible for Escalating Trade War

The evidence strongly supports the statement. Official Chinese government sources and state media explicitly blame the U.S. for the trade conflict. For example, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs position paper is titled in opposition to 'U.S. Abuse' (Source 5), and the official Xinhua news agency argues that the U.S. is harming itself with its trade positions (Source 3). Multiple sources also factually describe the U.S. as the initiator of specific tariff escalations, with China's actions framed as 'retaliatory' (Sources 4, 12, 15), which corroborates the narrative that China holds the U.S. responsible for the escalation.