-- President Barack Obama's decision to impose heavy tariffs on Chinese-made tires may prompt China to retaliate against U.S. auto and poultry exports.

China took its case to the World Trade Organization Monday, after Obama ordered additional U.S. tariffs on Chinese tires for three years, including 35 percent in the first year. The increases come on top of the current 4 percent tariff.

Besides challenging the tire tariffs before the WTO, the Chinese government said it would investigate on its own to determine whether the United States is improperly selling auto parts and poultry in China at unfairly low prices and with unfair government subsidies -- a process that could trigger Chinese tariffs on these products.

"We're not going to see a trade war," Obama told Bloomberg News Monday. "There are some tensions around this, no doubt about it. But my message is very simple: We have rules on the books."

Obama on Friday announced duties of 35 percent on $1.8 billion worth of automobile tires from China, acting on a petition by the United Steelworkers union, which complained that more than 5,000 U.S. jobs had been lost because of cheap Chinese tire imports.

Chinese retaliation could hurt U.S. auto companies, which last year agreed to export more than $2 billion in vehicles and auto parts to China, including thousands of Michigan-made vehicles and transmissions.

That included $1 billion in General Motors Co. Buick Enclaves built in the company's Lansing Delta Township plant and parts; $400 million in Jeeps and parts from Chrysler Group LLC and $800 million in Ford Motor Co. vehicles and parts.

University of Michigan economics professor Robert M. Stern says the Chinese are "playing tit for tat" in the ongoing trade skirmish.

Stern predicted "continued irritation on both sides going forward," but said that with nearly $195 billion in total trade, the two nations are "too interdependent on one another to spark a major disruption."

GM and Ford have large operations in China, which is one of the fastest growing and most important auto markets.

The biggest worry to automakers is that the issue could spark a broader trade dispute. Detroit automakers import Chinese made auto parts -- and many suppliers rely on Chinese-made components.

The tariff issue is sure to come up during next week's G-20 summit in Pittsburgh. Last month, China dropped fees on imported auto parts in a landmark trade case before the WTO -- some three years after the U.S. complained.

China's new complaint with the WTO gives the countries 60 days to resolve the dispute. If they don't, China can seek a full review by the WTO that could take months or years to resolve.

Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, said any retaliation by China would have "no basis" since the U.S. was following trade rules in imposing the tire tariff.

Chinese auto sector exports to the U.S. more than doubled in four years, from $4 billion in 2004 to $9.2 billion in 2008.

During the same period, U.S. auto sector exports to China rose from $800 million in 2004 to $2 billion last year. Most of the growth has been in vehicle imports, not auto parts.

China has employed a series of measures to discourage use of U.S. auto parts, imposing an additional 25 percent per-item tax when incorporated in a vehicle that failed to meet local content rules.

On Sept. 1, China dropped the fees, which the U.S. said put significant pressure on foreign auto parts producers to relocate facilities to China.

Michigan officials met in July with the Obama administration, seeking aid for domestic suppliers -- many of whom face bankruptcy. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. warned that China could capitalize on weak U.S. suppliers by boosting its auto parts role.

"The beneficiaries will be China and India, the most likely candidates to succeed the U.S. in supplying the automakers," the development agency said. "They will use our old equipment, which they will have purchased at cents on the dollar."

Furthermore, the Chinese government is threatening to block a deal by a Chinese company to buy GM's Hummer unit.

Nevertheless, the U.S. automakers didn't back the tire tariffs. Detroit's Big Three automakers this summer urged the Obama administration not to impose the tariff on Chinese tires for new vehicles. They warned that hiking Chinese tire tariffs could boost the cost of vehicles equipped with them by $50 to $150 each.

Of the $2 billion in Chinese tires that came into the United States last year, 5 percent were used on new vehicles assembled in American factories.

GM said Monday it is "confident that the current trade-related disputes can be resolved in a constructive manner."