"This is where a painful situation gets more painful," said Phil Levy, a former White House economist in the George W. Bush administration.
Early reaction to the president's action was unfavorable. "Tonight's announcement appears reckless and is not a targeted approach," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
Beijing has vowed to respond in kind to any US trade action. But China only bought about US$135b in US goods last year, meaning it will run out of American products to tax before it matches Trump's latest move.
Chinese officials are expected to retaliate in other ways, hitting US firms in China with unplanned inspections, delays in approving financial transactions and other administrative headaches.
"The Trump administration is gambling that by wielding such a big club, it will force China to back down," said Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "That is almost certainly a serious miscalculation. China is far more likely just to find other ways to hit back in kind.
The president has repeatedly described his resort to tariffs - which are paid by American importers - as a lever to extract negotiating concessions from US trading partners.
A few rounds of talks with Chinese leaders earlier this year made little progress, however, and no plans for additional meetings have been made public.
US officials say they remain willing to bargain. But a senior administration official who briefed reporters today on the condition that he not be identified added: "we do intend to keep the pressure on them."
The Trump administration said it cracked down on China for a range of trade practices involving intellectual property and technology that cost US companies an estimated US$50b annually.
Trump authorized an initial US$50b in tariffs - including the US$34b that took effect Friday - to match those losses.
China's retaliation to those measures was "without any international legal basis or justification," Lighthizer said Tuesday.
The senior administration official blamed China for the intensifying commercial conflict between two nations that account for roughly 40 per cent of the global economy.
"They were the ones who started everything by hurting us," the official said.
Tuesday's announcement included a 205-page public notice and list of the individual products that could be hit by the new 10-per cent tariffs.
Lighthizer's office plans four days of public hearings on the trade actions starting August 20.
"Trump's escalation of trade hostilities makes it increasingly difficult to envision an exit path from an all-out trade war. This new round of proposed tariffs takes the fight onto yet another level from which it is going to be difficult for either side to make a graceful retreat," said Eswar Prasad, former head of the International Monetary Fund's China division.
Beijing, meanwhile, has unveiled measures to help Chinese companies absorb the US trade blows, pledging to funnel money collected from its own import levies to firms and workers tangled in the escalating trade war.
Chinese officials also encouraged businesses to reduce their reliance on US goods, urging them to shift orders for products such as soybeans and automobiles to suppliers in China or countries other than the United States.
"For companies that are severely impacted, we suggest they report to local government departments," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement Monday.
The ministry released no further details about how it would spread the financial relief or whether the aid would cover the total cost of losses, but analysts said the move suggests China could significantly increase its support for industries that stand to be bled by the commercial battle.
China also seems to be projecting confidence that it can withstand political turmoil, said David Rank, former deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Beijing.
"Xi Jinping and the Communist Party do not face midterm elections in November," Rank said of the Chinese president, who is no longer bound by term limits. "Moreover, they will blame any economic troubles on Trump and the United States."
