China Opposes Steel Pipe Duties Imposed by U.S.

BEIJING, Sep. 16 -- China resolutely opposes the U.S. Commerce Department's decision to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese steel products, said Yao Jian, spokesman with the Ministry of Commerce, on Wednesday.

Yao said the U.S. side disregarded the fact that China is a developing country and had hurt the interests of Chinese industries by applying the trade remedies repeatedly.

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Monday that it would impose final anti-dumping duties ranging from 48.99 percent to 98.74 percent to offset below-market pricing by Chinese exporters. It also said it would levy final countervailing duties of 13.66 percent to 53.65 percent to offset Chinese government subsidies.

Yao said the Chinese government and industries would not accept the duties as they were discriminatory.

Since 2007, the U.S. side had launched anti-dumping and countervailing investigations on 15 kinds of Chinese steel products with a total value of nearly 7 billion U.S. dollars. The investigations usually lead to tariffs being imposed and involved products make up about one third of China's steel exports to the U.S.

These investigations had a negative impact on bilateral trade, Yao said.