(Updates with China tariffs)

By Jiaxing Li

Hong Kong, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Chinese stocks listed in

Hong Kong surged on Tuesday as investors loaded up on artificial

intelligence and electric vehicle shares while shrugging off

news of tit-for-tat Sino-U.S. tariffs on each others' goods.

China's finance ministry announced a

package of tariffs

on a range of U.S. products in an immediate response to a

10% new

tariff

on Chinese imports announced by U.S. President Donald Trump

that went into effect at 0501 GMT.

Investors had been hoping Trump would retract the

proposal to raise tariffs on China at the last minute, just as

he did with Canada and Mexico on Monday.

But as the deadline passed and U.S. tariffs came into

force, China announced its own levies of 15% for U.S. coal and

LNG and 10% for crude oil, farm equipment and some autos. The

new tariffs on U.S. exports will start on Feb. 10, China's

finance ministry said.

Trump's press secretary said the president will speak with

Chinese President Xi Jinping in the next couple of days.

"China is trying to get some bargaining power before getting

close to the negotiating table. It doesn't mean that they will

not go for negotiation talks," said Steven Leung, who handles

institutional trading at stockbroker UOB-Kay Hian in Hong Kong.

Leung said the market will be relieved once the two sides

agreed on a time for the trade talks, but that will take time.

China's initial proposal to tariffs imposed by U.S.

President Donald Trump's administration will centre on restoring

the "Phase 1" trade deal signed in 2020 during Trump's first

term, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing

sources.

"There will still be a lot of all these uncertainty and

noises over the next few days," Leung said, and that investors

should prepare for short-lived selloffs.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was last up

2.2%, off the three-month high it hit earlier in the day, while

Hang Seng Tech Index surged 3.6%. The benchmark Hang

Seng index added 2%.

AI-related stocks led the rally as investors continued to

pile up wagers on home-grown firms after startup DeepSeek

released a large language model at a cheap cost.

China's top chipmaker SMIC was also trading near

the record high it hit early in the day, and peer Hua Hong

Semiconductor advanced 8.7%.

The EV sector also lifted the market, with carmaker XPeng ( XPEV )

jumping 12.6% after the company said it delivered a

nearly three-fold increase in smart EVs in January year-on-year.

Financial markets in mainland China will reopen on Wednesday

after the long Lunar New Year holiday. China's benchmark

blue-chip index fell 3% in January before the holiday,

surrendering nearly half of September's 40% rally.

The markets may look through the political noise to focus on

China's responses to U.S. tariffs and the upcoming National

People's Congress (NPC) meeting in the next few weeks, analysts

at Citi said in a note.

Capital Economics said the additional 10% tariff that Donald

Trump has applied on Chinese goods will have a relatively modest

impact on China's economy, especially if the PBOC allows the

yuan to adjust, but predicted the trade war with the U.S. will

be protracted.