China rejected a White House report on Thursday that accused its exporters of routing goods through Mexico and other countries to avoid US tariffs, hours after word emerged that Mexico was preparing to restrict Chinese products further.

He Yadong, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, told a regular press briefing in Beijing that the report “ignored facts and distorted reality by treating normal international trade and investment as fraud”.

He called it a “typical exercise in unilateralism and protectionism” intended to “suppress and block Chinese products”, and accused Washington of “blaming external factors for its own economic problems”.

“The high differentiated tariffs imposed by the United States are the real cause threatening the security of global supply chains,” He said.

The spokesman demanded an immediate end to what he called irresponsible accusations and said China would keep developing commercial cooperation with all parties on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.