July 5 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures slipped 1 percent to a seven-week low on Thursday, ahead of a looming deadline for the United States' proposed tariffs on Chinese imports, which are expected to trigger a similar response from Beijing.

* The most active cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S., the third-month December contract CTc3 CTZ8 , settled down 0.85 cent, or 1.03 percent, at 81.96 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 81.8, its lowest level since May 18, and 83.46 cents a lb.

* "It's the tariffs. It's the thought of the tariffs. That's everything right now. ... Tomorrow is the day that China may start putting a tariff on (U.S.) cotton," said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage in Cleveland, Mississippi.

* China accused the United States on Thursday of "opening fire" on the world with the tariffs set to take effect on Friday, warning that it will respond the moment that duties on $34 billion in Chinese goods kick in. Chinese cotton futures fell nearly 3 percent in early trade on Thursday, amid fears that a protracted trade dispute between the world's top two economies could affect China's textile exports. The United States is the world's biggest cotton exporter, while China is the top consumer.

* The initial round of tariffs are to take effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) on Friday.

* Total futures market volume fell by 2,049 to 20,012 lots. Data showed total open interest fell to 254,619 contracts in the previous session.

* Certificated cotton stocks CERT-COT-STX deliverable as of July 3 totaled 92,135 480-lb bales, up from 91,766 in the previous session.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report is due on Friday, delayed by a day because of Wednesday's Independence Day holiday.