Washington has already applied fees, since July 6th, to $34 billion of Chinese imports, and from now on it will also target Chinese products another $16 billion.

The Department of Commerce said in a statement that it would involve about 279 Chinese products in response to "China's unfair trade practices, including the forced transfer of technology and intellectual property rights", according to the ministry.

 The White House accuses Beijing of "stealing intellectual property," and calls on the Asian giant to abandon such practices, reduce the US trade deficit by 200 billion dollars and open up its markets to US goods. 

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce warned earlier that Beijing was "fully prepared to adopt countermeasures to safeguard the dignity of the country and the interests of its people" and to defend the "international pluralistic approach" in case of additional US sanctions.