SHANGHAI, March 4 (Reuters) - China announced a ban on

Tuesday on imports of genetic sequencers from U.S. medical

equipment maker Illumina ( ILMN ), just minutes after U.S.

President Donald Trump's additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods

took effect.

The ban is part of a series of measures China announced in

response to the extra U.S. tariffs and comes after Beijing put

Illumina ( ILMN ) on its "unreliable entity" list in February.

China accounts for about 7% of Illumina's ( ILMN ) sales. Gene

sequencers help determine the sequence of DNA or RNA, allowing

scientists to study genetic variations associated with diseases

and diagnose rare genetic conditions.

The ban takes effect from March 4.

China's commerce ministry said in a statement that Illumina ( ILMN )

had suspended normal transactions with Chinese enterprises and

taken discriminatory measures against Chinese enterprises.

Illumina ( ILMN ) did not reply to a request for comment outside of

regular U.S. business hours.

In February, China also put PVH Corp ( PVH ), the holding

company for brands including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, on

its unreliable entity list and announced an investigation into

Google as part of a wide range of measures targeting

U.S. businesses.

Companies added to the list can be subject to fines and a

broad range of other sanctions, including a freeze on trade and

revocation of work permits for foreign staff.