A leading commentator on Chinese affairs on Monday said the US trade war would prove costly for all concerned, including the United States.

Speaking on RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme, Victor Gao, vice-president of the Centre for China and Globalisation in Beijing, said China would not only defend its interests, but also protect the world trading order.

"In this round of the trade war, the United States is absolutely the wrong party. It started the war. It instigated the war. It used maximum pressure and intimidation against almost all the other countries, and China needs to do the right thing, that is jump up to the occasion and fiercely defend its legitimate interests," he said.

"And also, for the rest of the world, China needs to exercise a leadership role in defending free trade."

Gao said American consumers would suffer as the tariffs made goods more expensive and suspected Washington was using the threat of import taxes to weaponise the global trading system to its own ends.

"It still demonstrates that the US administration, as far as the maximum tariffs are concerned, is still using these tariffs as a weapon, trying to achieve other goals," he said.

"Whether it's blackmail, maximum pressure, intimidation, or bringing in other strategic goals, it remains to be seen. Therefore, I think, the Chinese position is to call on the US government to do the right thing and to cancel all the tariffs, because that is the only right thing to do."