China has announced that it will impose new taxes on certain U.S.-made vehicle imports, in the latest move to test the strained U.S.-China trade relationship.

China’s Commerce Ministry said Wednesday that it will impose duties from 2 percent to 2.5 percent on imported passenger cars and sport utility vehicles with engines larger than 2.5 liters.

The ministry said it is imposing the tariffs because it found that Chinese automakers had experienced “substantial damage” because of U.S. vehicle imports it said were dumped into the Chinese market at prices below the cost of production.

The duties will affect vehicles produced by General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, BMW Manufacturing and American Honda Motor.

China and the U.S. – the world’s two largest economies, have been locked in a trade battle over a range of issues, including Chinese solar panels, American chickens and what Washington sees as the artificially low value of the Chinese currency.

American lawmakers have been increasing their demands for punitive tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing fails to ease controls that keep its currency undervalued and gives its exporters an unfair trade advantage.

U.S. officials have long accused China of keeping its currency artificially low, a policy that helped send the U.S. trade deficit with China to more than $270 billion in 2010.