Mubasher: The US administration is preparing another tranche of duties on a $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, escalating the trade war between Washington and Beijing.

On Tuesday, US trade representative Robert Lighthizer issued a list of thousands of additional goods that could be subject to 10% tariffs, including vegetables, rain jackets, baseball gloves, handbags and refrigerators.

"Rather than address our legitimate concerns, China has begun to retaliate against US products," Lighthizer said in a statement.

Washington is willing to negotiate with Beijing the issues at hand, the state secretary added. However, US administration officials told reporters on a call Tuesday that the two parties did not show any will to negotiate yet.

"They continue to insist the problems we've identified are not real problems," one administration official said, adding that Beijing is not set to talk about Made in China 2025, a government plan to make China a global tech leader.

Moreover, the US is already planning a second round of tariffs on Chinese products worth $16 billion. This brings the recently announced tariffs on $200 billion the third round, which would come into effect sometime after 30 August.

The news came after Washington’s 25% tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods took effect on Friday, to which Beijing immediately responded with the same tariffs on US imports, including cars and farm products such as soybeans and meat.

The move was based on a directive by US President Donald Trump to Lighthizer to draw up $200 billion in Chinese imports, should China retaliate against the US penalties to punish Beijing for intellectual property theft.

China’s commerce ministry on Wednesday labeled Trump's newly announced tariffs “unacceptable,” warning that it would respond with “necessary countermeasures” without disclosing any further details.