2010-06-03 05:49

BEIJING:  China opposes the US decision to set final duties of up to more than 200 percent on imports of steel gratings from China, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in a statement on Wednesday.

This came after the US Commerce Department Tuesday announced final anti-dumping duties of 136.76 to 145.18 percent on the gratings to "offset below-market pricing." It also set a countervailing duty of 62.46 percent.

MOC said the United States had acted "discriminatorily" in the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation and made the wrong conclusion, and China is dissatisfied and is opposed to this.

Such move could hurt the interests of China, which both Chinese government and enterprises would not accept, the ministry said.

China urged the US to take effective measures to correct the mistake, it said.

According to the US trade remedy procedure, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) will also make its final injury determination about the product soon.

If the ITC makes affirmative final determinations that imports of steel gratings from China materially injure, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, the Commerce Department will issue anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties orders.

In 2009, the United States imposed a series of trade remedy measures on Chinese products, and the value involved was eight times more than that in 2008, the MOC statement said.

"Such action not only hurts the interests of China, but also has an adverse impact on bilateral economic and trade ties," it said.

China hoped the United States could show restraint in using trade remedy measures and act to fight trade protectionism, it said.