China Hits Back Against Trump’s Tariffs With Targeted Actions

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 ...