China suspended on Tuesday the soybean import licenses of three U.S. firms and halted imports of U.S. lumber, stepping up retaliatory action after the United States imposed additional tariffs on Chinese goods.

Trump's moves effectively launched new trade conflicts with the U.S.'s top three trading partners and threatened to upend two-way annual trade worth, according to data from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative,

Chinese manufacturers reported an uptick in orders in February as importers rushed to beat higher U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, as a Chinese state media report said that Beijing was considering ways to retaliate.