China warned the United States on Wednesday that it would announce retaliatory measures "in the coming days" after Washington published a list of $50 billion in Chinese products that will face US tariffs.
The commerce ministry said in a statement that tariff proposals were "completely unfounded, a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice that China strongly condemns and firmly opposes".
The ministry echoed a Chinese embassy statement in Washington, which said Beijing would resort to the World Trade Organisation's dispute settlement mechanism, and take "corresponding measures of equal strength and scale against US products" in accordance with Chinese law.
"These measures will be announced in the coming days," the ministry added. "We are confident and capable of responding to any US trade protectionist measures."
The tit-for-tat actions have raised fears of a trade war, rattling global stock markets.
Asia stocks staged a modest bounce-back Wednesday after recent market jitters but gains were tepid as investors eyed a heating-up of trade rhetoric between the world's two biggest economies.
Tokyo was the top gainer in the region, rising 0.5 percent at the open driven both by a bullish session on Wall Street and a weaker yen, which benefits exporters.
However, the gains quickly evaporated in Japan, and markets in Australia and South Korea were marginally in the red as traders digested the latest volley in a brewing trade war.
The Office of the US Trade Representative issued a list targeting 1,300 Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecommunications equipment. The suggested tariffs wouldn't take effect right away: A public comment period will last until May 11, and a hearing on the tariffs is set for May 15. Companies and consumers will have the opportunity to lobby to have some products taken off the list or have others added.
The U.S. sanctions are intended to punish China for deploying strong-arm tactics in its drive to become a global technology power.
These include pressuring American companies to share technology to gain access to the Chinese market, forcing US firms to licence their technology in China on unfavourable terms and even hacking into US companies' computers to steal trade secrets.
The administration sought to draw up the list of targeted Chinese goods in a way that might limit the impact of the tariffs - a tax on imports - on American consumers while hitting Chinese imports that benefit from Beijing's sharp-elbowed tech policies. But some critics warned that Americans will end up being hurt.
"If you're hitting $50 billion in trade, you're inevitably going to hurt somebody, and somebody is going to complain," said Rod Hunter, a former economic official at the National Security Council and now a partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP.
In China, the state-run daily Global Times said on Monday that Beijing had "nearly completed its list of retaliatory tariffs on US products and will release it soon."
"The list will involve major Chinese imports from the US," the newspaper wrote, without saying which data-x-items were included, though the Global Times has suggested in the past that Beijing could hit major industries such as soybeans and aerospace.
China already retaliated on Monday to separate US tariffs on steel and aluminium by placing new duties on $3 billion worth of American goods, including pork, wine and fruits.
The U.S. tariff hike on steel and aluminum has little impact on China but the latest duties will be far more sensitive because they target what Chinese leaders see as important future industries including telecoms and medical technology.
Representatives of American business, which have complained for years that China has pilfered US technology and discriminated against U.S. companies, were nevertheless critical of the administration's latest action.
"Unilateral tariffs may do more harm than good and do little to address the problems in China's (intellectual property) and tech transfer policies," said John Frisbie, president of the U.S.-China Business Council.
Even some technology groups that are contending directly with Chinese competition expressed misgivings.
"The Trump administration is right to push back against China's abuse of economic and trade policy," said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank. But he said the proposed U.S. tariffs "would hurt companies in the US by raising the prices and reducing consumption of the capital equipment they rely on to produce their goods and services."
"The focus should be on things that will create the most leverage over China without raising prices and dampening investment in the kinds of machinery, equipment, and other technology that drives innovation and productivity across the economy," Atkinson added.
