BEIJING - China will take "all necessary measures" to protect its firms' legitimate interests, the Commerce Ministry said on Thursday, in response to the U.S. move this week to further tighten restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co.

The Trump administration on Monday expanded restrictions announced in May aimed at preventing the Chinese telecommunications giant from obtaining semiconductors without a special licence, and added 38 Huawei affiliates in 21 countries to the U.S. government's economic blacklist in its crackdown on its access to commercially available chips.

"The U.S. side should immediately correct its wrong behaviours," the ministry said in a statement released on its website, without giving details on how it might retaliate.

(Reporting by Yawen Chen and Ryan Woo; Editing by Alison Williams) ((yawen.chen@thomsonreuters.com; On Twitter https://twitter.com/ywchen1;))