China's government has criticised the latest US threat of a tariff hike as "totally unacceptable" and vowed to retaliate in their escalating trade war.
The Commerce Ministry on Wednesday gave no details, but Beijing responded to last week's US tariff hike on $US34 billion ($A46 billion) of imports from China by increasing its own duties on the same amount of American goods.
The US Trade Representative's office announced a $US200 billion list on Wednesday of Chinese goods for possible 10 per cent tariffs including fish, apples and burglar alarms.
A Commerce Ministry statement said, "It is totally unacceptable for American side to publish a tariff list in a way that is accelerating and escalating." It said, "the Chinese government will be forced to impose necessary countermeasures" to protect its "core interests."
The news sent stocks tumbling, with China's markets leading the declines.
US officials released a list of thousands of Chinese imports the administration wants to hit with the new tariffs, including hundreds of food products as well as tobacco, chemicals, coal, steel and aluminium.
It also includes consumer goods ranging from car tyres, furniture, wood products, handbags and suitcases, to dog and cat food, baseball gloves, carpets, doors, bicycles, skis, golf bags, toilet paper and beauty products.
"For over a year, the Trump administration has patiently urged China to stop its unfair practices, open its market, and engage in true market competition," US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in announcing the proposed tariffs.
"Rather than address our legitimate concerns, China has begun to retaliate against US products ... There is no justification for such action," he said in a statement.
Last week, Washington imposed 25 per cent tariffs on $US34 billion of Chinese imports, and Beijing responded immediately with matching tariffs on the same amount of US exports to China.
In Beijing, Li Chenggang, assistant minister at China's Commerce Ministry, said at a forum in Beijing that the latest US proposals interfered with the globalisation of the world economy and that China's support for a multilateral trade system would not change.
"The outburst of large-scale mutual levying of tariffs between China and the United States will inevitably destroy Sino-US trade," he told the forum.
Although it was not a direct reaction to the new move from Trump's administration, the official English-language newspaper China Daily said in an editorial that Beijing had to stand up to Washington.
"China has no option but to fight fire with fire. It has to resolutely fight back while taking proper measures to help minimise the cost to domestic enterprises and further open up its economy to global investors," it said.
Investors fear an escalating trade war between the world's two biggest economies could hit global growth.
In financial markets, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.5 per cent, while the main indexes in Hong Kong and Shanghai fell more than two per cent.
S&P 500 and Dow futures dropped around one per cent, pointing to a weak opening on Wall Street later on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump has said he may ultimately impose tariffs on more than $US500 billion worth of Chinese goods - roughly the total amount of US imports from China last year.
The new list published on Tuesday targets many more consumer goods than those covered under the tariffs imposed last week, raising the direct threat to consumers and retail firms.
The tariffs will not be imposed until after a two-month period of public comment on the proposed list, but some US business groups and senior lawmakers were quick to criticise the move.
