The Trump administration announced Tuesday it is preparing a new package of tariffs targeting Chinese exports valued around $200 billion, the latest escalation in the trade war with Beijing.

The threat of additional tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods "would mean that around half of Chinese exports of goods to the US would face significant USA punitive tariff measures", Rajiv Biswas, Asia Pacific Chief Economist at IHS Markit, said in a note.

U.S. officials will hold hearings in late August on the list of targeted products and an administration official said it would take about two months to finalise, at which point Trump would decide whether to go ahead with the levies.

That prompted fears it might go beyond matching Washington's duty increases by disrupting operations for USA companies in China.

'Tonight's announcement appears reckless and is not a targeted approach, ' Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch said.

"China provides massive, market-distorting subsidies and other forms of state support to its domestic industries", Shea said.

A senior administration official told Fox News that China has been "non-responsive" to USA actions and has insisted that Beijing does not see any way America has been hurt by Chinese policies. The U-S president has long criticized China for what he calls unfair trade practices.

"It is totally unacceptable for American side to publish a tariff list in a way that is accelerating and escalating", said a Commerce Ministry statement.

US President Donald Trump ordered his government to prepare tariffs on a further US$200bn of imports from China on Monday.

China's commerce ministry said on Wednesday it was "shocked" and would complain to the World Trade Organisation, but did not immediately say how it would retaliate.

"Judging from (China's) economic fundamentals and corporate earnings expectations, which are under pressure amid the trade war with the United States, the stock market is yet to reach a bottom", said Yan Kaiwen, an analyst with China Fortune Securities. There is no victor in a trade war.

The $200 billion far exceeds the total value of goods China imports from the United States, which means Beijing may need to think of creative ways to respond to such USA measures.

He said his office "will proceed with a transparent and comprehensive public notice and comment process prior to the imposition of final tariffs, as we have for previous tariffs". The Chinese government's industrial strategy to make its goods competitive on the global market, in place since 2015, seems to have been one of the key instigators of Trump's trade war.

The officials said they tried to target goods that would reduce the harm to US consumers.

The US administration late on Tuesday released a huge list of new tariffs on $US200 billion worth of goods from China. The U-S Chamber of Commerce says the proposed measure would ultimately hurt American families.