The Chinese government is deeply concerned about the U.S. investigations into tubular and pipe steel imported from China, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

MOC spokesman Yao Jian made the remark in response to the decision made by the U.S. Department of Commerce Wednesday to launch anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations into specific types of Chinese steel pipes used in oil and gas drilling.

Yao said the Chinese public and industries had protested against the U.S. decision.

"The steel pipe is the main product of Chinese steel exports to the U.S.. The move will seriously hurt the Sino-U.S. steel trade and pose negative impact on the relevant U.S. industries", Yao noted.

He said the U.S. would send wrong signals to the world, and China would keep watching the case and take responsive actions.

On April 8, U.S. steel makers filed an anti-dumping suit to the U.S. trade bodies for an investigation into the steel products.

Yao said Chinese government was deeply dissatisfied with the U.S. decision to start safeguard investigations into Chinese tyres.

He said the check constituted discrimination against Chinese products and an abuse of special safeguard measures.

Global demand for tyres was weakened by the financial crisis, which was the main factor leading to the slacking tyre market in the U.S., he said, noting putting limits on imports from China would not solve the problem.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2009)