China on Thursday detailed measures to encourage state-owned funds and insurers to buy more shares, aimed at stabilizing the struggling stock market at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to announce tariffs on Chinese imports.

China announced plans on Thursday to channel hundreds of billions of yuan of investment from state-owned insurers into shares as part of the government's latest efforts to support a struggling stock market.

Starting this year, 30 per cent of the annual insurance premium from new policies will be put into yuan-denominated A shares, regulator Wu Qing said.

China is guiding local mutual funds and insurers to boost their stock purchases in the government’s latest initiative to shore up its ailing equity market as it confronts the threat of higher tariffs.

State-owned insurers and mutual funds are expected to play a pivotal role in the process, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance said in a press briefing.

Starting this year, major Chinese state-owned insurance companies will "strive to" invest 30% of their new new premium income in mainland-listed stocks, Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, told reporters. He said this should pump "hundreds of billions of yuan of new long-term funds" into the stock market.

State-owned insurers and mutual funds are expected to play a pivotal role in the process of stabilizing the stock market.