China resolutely opposes US move to start anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into seamless steel pipes imported from China, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said.

The current hardships facing the US steel industry was because consumption and demand waned after the financial crisis. "Blindly blaming Chinese imports of dumping or subsidies is lack of factual bases, which China strongly opposes," MOC announced in a statement on its website Saturday.

The statement came after US Department of Commerce said Wednesday that it had initiated anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations at the request of the US Steel Corporation, V&M Star LP, TMK IPSCO and the United Steelworkers (USW).

The US petitioners requested a 98.37-percent anti-dumping duty against the Chinese imports and additional countervailing duties to offset what they allege are Chinese government subsidies.

The case was the seventh such investigations this year launched by the US Department of Commerce against Chinese imports that included claims of both dumping and subsidies, MOC said.

Resorting to trade protectionism would not solve the real problem, instead it would hurt the interests of US downstream steel businesses as well as bilateral trade, it said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2009)