Bay Area businesses seek calm

China has been Oregon's biggest trader partner. The state exports about $6 billion worth of commodities and goods and helps create over 20,000 jobs in its trade with China.

For Nike, a multinational brand valued at $29.6 billion in 2017, China has been a great partner since China opened up, said O'Hollaren.

"It's a unique market for us because it's a consumer market and it's also a manufacturing market. We have now 6,000 employees in China and 60,000 stores in China," he said, adding business volume in China is about $4 billion plus an additional $4 billion in export of products outside of China.

"When we grow in China, we also grow in the US. We are US multinational. We add jobs here to facilitate growth in China," he said, adding that trade friction was not a zero-sum game.

"When China prospers it does not mean the US loses. That's not how it works. And adding trade friction to our trade relationship does not help either of us grow," he added.

O'Hollaren called on companies that have relationships or business operations in both the US and China to join hands to let the Trump administration understand that "this is a global conversation, not simply bilateral, and it affects everyone."

On Thursday, Trump signed a memorandum that imposes as much as $60 billion in broad tariffs on Chinese goods and targets China's so-called economic aggression following a Section 301 investigation regarding China's intellectual property policies and practices.

In response, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said China doesn't want a trade war with the US or with anybody else, but China is not afraid of one.

"If somebody tries to impose a trade war upon us, we will fight. We will do whatever we can to defend the legitimate interests. We will also do whatever we can to safeguard the open global trading system," he said in a video posted on the embassy's Facebook account.

When the US reacts, it's like physics - for every action, there is equal and opposite reaction, said O'Hollaren. "We know that does not ultimately help consumers."