Ammon News - China announced a wide range of measures on Tuesday targeting U.S. businesses including Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, farm equipment makers and the owner of fashion brand Calvin Klein, minutes after new U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods took effect.

Beijing also slapped tariffs on U.S. products such as coal, oil and some autos in a rapid response to the new duties on Chinese goods imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, escalating trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies.

China's State Administration for Market Regulation said Google was suspected of violating the country's anti-monopoly law and an investigation was initiated in accordance with the law. It did not provide further details on the investigation or on what it alleged Google had done to breach the law.

Google products such as its search engine are blocked in China and its revenue from there is about 1% of global sales. It still works with Chinese partners such as advertisers.

In 2017, Google announced the launch of a small artificial intelligence centre in China. But the project was disbanded two years later and the firm does not conduct AI research in China, according to a blog posting. Reuters