China’s leaders are downplaying the potential impact from President Donald Trump’s trade war, saying they have the capacity to protect jobs and limit damage from higher tariffs on Chinese exports.

The briefing Monday by several senior officials of different government ministries appeared aimed at shoring up confidence with promises of support for companies and the unemployed, easier lending conditions and other policies to counter the impact of combined tariffs of up to 145% on U.S. imports from China.

It followed a meeting of China’s powerful Politburo last week that analysts said had focused on ways to keep growth on track despite slowing exports.

“Chinese policymakers are on heightened standby mode,” Louise Loo, lead economist at Oxford Economics, said in a report.

The officials who spoke Monday reiterated China’s rejection of what leaders there call bullying.

“They make up bargaining chips out of thin air, bully and go back on their words, which makes everyone see one thing more and more clearly, that is the so-called reciprocal tariffs severely go against historical trends and economic laws, impact international trade rules and order and seriously impair the legitimate rights and interests of countries,” said Zhao Chenxin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s main economic planning agency.

The trade war between the world’s two largest economies has the potential to bring on a recession in the U.S., with repercussions across the globe. China has been struggling to recharge its own growth after the job losses and other shocks of the pandemic.