US investigations of Chinese mills imprudent, protectionism the problem: MOFCOM
Source: www.chinamining.org Citation: Xinhua Date: May 23, 2016
The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has labeled US anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations into steel plates from countries and regions including China "imprudent," and it blamed protectionism for the troubles of US producers of steel.
"The US has recently taken a series of trade remedy measures against steel exports from other countries and regions. Such acts are imprudent and cannot help US steel businesses solve their problems," the MOFCOM said in a statement posted on its website on Saturday.
"After more than three decades of protection and subsidies, the US has distorted competition in its domestic steel market, deprived local companies of motivation to increase investment or improve technology and subsequently blunted their competitive edge," the MOFCOM statement said.
Against a backdrop of global slowdown and overcapacity, countries should cooperate and coordinate more, follow WTO rules and promote free trade, rather than resorting to protectionism, said the statement.
China encourages and supports its companies in responding to the US investigations according to law.
"We will closely watch the case and use WTO rules to safeguard the rights and interests of Chinese companies," the ministry vowed.
The US has said in a preliminary ruling that certain carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from 12 countries and regions including China, Japan, South Korea and France, had substantially harmed the US steel industry.
The move came shortly after the US Commerce Department set final anti-dumping duties of 265.79 percent and anti-subsidy duties of 256.44 percent on imports of cold-rolled flat steel from China on Tuesday.
The State Council, China`s cabinet, said Wednesday that China will cut its steel capacity by about 10 percent in the next two years.
Joint efforts are needed to cut overcapacity in the global steel sector, the MOFCOM said.
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