The goal is to bring the total amount of Chinese imports up to 40 percent of the total imported from the Asian power, since the US products hit by Beijing's retaliation represent that share of exports, an official told reporters in a conference call.

The Chinese commerce ministry said that it was "shocked at the U.S. action" and warned that it would be forced to retaliate "to protect the core interests of the nation and its people".

In a statement, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that the new 10 percent tariffs were in response to what he called China's "retaliation and failure to change its practices".

John Connelly, president of the National Fisheries Institute, the U.S. seafood industry's most influential trade group, is calling on United States president Donald Trump and China to pick up a children's book and end their trade dispute. "If the US goes ahead with more, China needs a combination of tools and it is prudent to guard against downside risk to growth too". In Trump's first round of tariffs, China accounted for 20 percent of total USA imports, meaning that substitutes were readily available.

China's Commerce Ministry has vowed to retaliate to the countermove.

Chinese retaliation: China has threatened to retaliate dollar-for-dollar if the Trump administration imposes a new round of tariffs. It has said it will launch an appeal through the World Trade Organisation against the "US side's unilateralist actions".

China imports far less from the USA than the United States imports from China.

Trump has said the tariffs are meant to punish China for using unfair trade practices.

As with previous rounds of tariffs, the new list takes special aim at "Made in China 2025" products.

The country has informed the WTO it plans to impose retaliatory measures on U.S. goods to the tune of 50 billion yen (395 million euros, $455 million), after failing to persuade Washington to exempt it from the tariffs.

China slammed the latest United States tariff threat as a "totally unacceptable" escalation of their trade battle and vowed Wednesday to protect its "core interests". Especially the issue of technology development is regarded as a threat both to the economic and ultimately military dominance of the US.

Unlike Trump, Chinese leader Xi Jinping doesn't need to worry about midterms or congressional oversight when he acts.

Senate finance committee chairman Orrin Hatch also expressed alarm.

"If you are Trump, you basically want to go after China only after you make sure that NAFTA is a go".

The trade war arrives as the economy is already slowing, adding an external shock to a home-made one. Members of Congress pushed back Tuesday night and early Wednesday against what they saw as harmful penalties that would leave American farmers and consumers caught in the crossfire. During a visit to Germany this week by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the countries signed business deals worth more than US$23 billion. The White House has recently increased tariffs on imports from a number of countries.

"I am curious to see what China does to retaliate in the coming days".

In Brussels, a top European Commission official, Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, said he was "concerned" about an "immediate economic impact" from not only the latest tensions but also about a broader unravelling of the multilateral trading system.

Associations of U.S. manufacturers, retailers, and petroleum and chemicals producers have stepped up calls on the U.S. Administration to seek alternative solutions to the tariffs, warning that additional levies would hurt U.S.jobs and growth.

Mr Trump criticised North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies' military spending levels as he began his seven-day tour through Europe - one that starts with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Belgium and ends with a talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Finnish capital of Helsinki.

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