China urges more communication with US on steel issue

BEIJING - An unnamed official with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Wednesday that China and the United States should improve dialogue and communication on global steel overcapacity, following a trade complaint from United States Steel Corp (US Steel).

US Steel lodged a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday, under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, against around 40 Chinese steel producers and their distributors.

Pittsburgh-based US Steel said in a statement that its complaint regarded "alleged illegal unfair competition methods and seeks the exclusion of all unfairly traded Chinese steel products from the US market."

The ITC has up to 30 days to decide whether it will initiate the case.

The MOC official said he hoped the ITC would overrule the charges as the provision cited by US Steel had mostly been used in intellectual property rights (IPR) dispute cases.

"Steel products are relatively mature and there are no IPR disputes regarding them. Charges of IPR infringement are groundless," the official said.

The steel industries in the United States and China should strengthen dialogue and communication to jointly address the overcapacity, which is a result of anemic global economic recovery and tepid demand, the official added.