China retaliated to Donald Trump’s opening trade war tariffs by targeting a handful of American companies and slapping levies on some US goods, in a move seemingly designed to avoid escalating tensions between the world’s biggest economies. Beijing imposed a 15% levy on less than $5 billion of US energy imports and a moderate 10% fee on American oil and agricultural equipment on Tuesday, moments after new US tariffs entered effect. China said it will also investigate Google for alleged antitrust violations, although Alphabet Inc.’s search services have been unavailable in the country since 2010. In more targeted measures, authorities put Calvin Klein owner PVH Corp. and US gene sequencing company Illumina Inc. on a so-called blacklist of entities that could affect their sizable operations in China, and imposed new export control on tungsten and other critical metals used in electronic, aviation and defense industries. President Xi Jinping’s response appeared carefully calibrated to avoid major blowback on China’s economy while showing Trump an ability to inflict damage on a range of fronts, including by disrupting the key minerals supply chain and hurting US companies with major operations on the mainland.

Full report : China’s State Administration for Market Regulation says it will probe Google for alleged antitrust violations, moments after Trump put tariffs on Chinese goods.