China's surplus with the US hit a record high last month, data showed today.
This added to brewing tensions between the economic superpowers as they stand on the brink of an all-out trade war that Beijing warned would have a "negative impact" globally.
The figures come after the two sides exchanged tit for tat tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods and Donald Trump threatened to up the ante with measures on a colossal $200 billion of Chinese imports.
Beijing said China's surplus with the US hit an all-time high $28.97 billion last month, while exports to the country hit a record $42.62 billion.
Over the first six months of the year the surplus climbed to $133.8 billion as total two-way trade continued to expand despite the face-off.
The imbalance is at the heart of Trump's anger at what he describes as Beijing's unfair trade practices that are hurting American companies and destroying jobs.
But in a statement from its commerce ministry, China blamed those problems on the US, saying the imbalance was "overestimated" and caused by America's own "domestic structural problems".
Last Friday, Trump rolled out 25% tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods.
This prompted Beijing to accuse Washington of launching the "largest trade war" in economic history, while immediately matching the US tariffs dollar for dollar.
"This trade dispute will definitely have an impact on China-US trade and will have a very negative impact on global trade," a Chinese customs administration spokesman said today.
China's commerce ministry has said the two sides are not discussing restarting trade negotiations, and renewed its pledge to "strike back" against Washington's latest threat to slap $200 billion of Chinese imports with new 10% taxes.
Trump's latest tariffs threat hammered global markets, while there are worries that his decision to pick fights with other key allies including Canada and the European Union could fuel an all-out global trade war.
The spiralling battle with Beijing shows no signs of cooling down, and observers warn the impact will begin to hurt soon as China's economy struggles with slowing growth just as leaders try to battle a worryingly large debt mountain.
China's total exports rose 11.3% year-on-year in June, beating a Bloomberg News forecast of 9.5%.
Imports increased by 14.1%, below the forecast 21.3%.
