China has expressed concern over the European Union's ongoing trade restrictions on steel imports and will closely monitor the bloc's future actions in this regard, said the Ministry of Commerce.
The EU has implemented a range of restrictive measures, including maintaining high tariff rates for several years and enforcing more than 60 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on steel products originating from various countries and regions, said He Yadong, the ministry's spokesman.
Consequently, the EU steel market has become one of the global markets with numerous trade barriers and elevated product prices, He told a weekly news conference in Beijing.
The commerce official said that the EU's action is disrupting the international trade order, increasing downstream production costs, negatively impacts consumer interests and fails to contribute to the stability of global industrial and supply chains.
These measures also do not support the long-term development of domestic industries or the healthy functioning of the market in the EU. China consistently advocates for the reasonable and prudent use of trade remedy measures and firmly opposes unilateralism and protectionism through the misuse of such measures, he added.