While China could offset American tariffs by letting its currency fall, that might endanger Beijing’s recent efforts to stabilize the economy.

Neither the United States nor China would win a trade war, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said on Monday, after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to slap an additional 10% tariff on all Chinese imports when he takes office on Jan.

Trump says he will sign an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico and Canada and a 10% tariff on those from China.

Understanding how China’s economy really works is difficult at the best of times. Its statistics agencies do not regularly publish data on things like local employment and, when they do, observers are often sceptical of the accuracy of the figures.