BEIJING -- China has criticized U.S. anti-dumping penalties imposed on Chinese steel producers as complaints mount that Beijing is exporting at improperly low prices to clear a backlog at home.
The Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China said Wednesday that the duties of 522 percent announced on cold-rolled steel used in automobiles and other manufacturing were excessive and called on Washington to rescind them.
Beijing faces mounting criticism from the United States and Europe concerning a flood of low-cost steel that Western governments say hurts their producers and threatens thousands of jobs.
The Chinese government is trying to shrink bloated industries including steel, coal, cement, aluminum and solar-panel manufacturing in which supplies exceed demand. That led to price-cutting wars that are driving producers to bankruptcy.
Chinese government plans call for stepping up exports and shifting some operations abroad. The Cabinet approved measures in April to support steel exports with tax rebates and bank loans.
The latest U.S. duties are 266 percent for anti-dumping and 256 percent to offset what investigators concluded were improper subsidies.
The Commerce Ministry said regulators engaged in "unfair practices" and improperly hampered the ability of Chinese companies to defend themselves.
Washington was responding to a 2015 complaint by five steel producers that said they have been forced to lay off thousands of employees because of unfair foreign competition.
One of the producers, U.S. Steel Corp., filed a separate complaint last month accusing the biggest Chinese steel producers of conspiring to fix prices, stealing trade secrets and skirting duties on imports in the U.S. with false labeling.
The European Union began its own investigation of Chinese steel exports last week after protests by steelworkers.
In Britain, Tata Steel cited low-cost Chinese competition when it announced plans last month to sell money-losing operations that employ 20,000 people.
China pushed back against its trading partners in April, announcing anti-dumping duties on steel from the European Union, Japan and South Korea.
Business on 05/19/2016