China is concerned about United States’ threats to raise tariffs on steel imports, a government spokeswoman said in the official media Saturday.
The US at the end of June launched an inquiry to determine if importers, including those from China, were dumping steel on its local market.
The investigation could result in the imposition of higher tariffs on foreign steel imports.
China was “seriously concerned” over the investigation, foreign trade ministry spokeswoman Gao Yan said, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
She said the Chinese government would do all it could to protect the legal rights of the Chinese steel industry.
The announcement of the inquiry has also raised the hackles of other US trading partners, notably European Union and Japan.
(China Daily 07/21/2001)
