TMTPost -- China voiced strong dissatisfaction and serious warning against latest U.S. protectionist attempts.

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China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes the United States' launch of a Section 301 investigation into China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday, Xinhua New Agency quoted a statement of the ministry. The statement claimed the U.S. petition is full of false accusations and misinterprets normal trade and investment activities as damaging to U.S. national security and corporate interests. It said the U.S. accusation lacked factual basis and run counter to common sense economics as the U.S. government has provided hundreds of billions of dollars in discriminatory subsidies to its own domestic industries, highlighting that several U.S. studies have shown that the U.S. shipbuilding industry lost its competitive edge years ago due to overprotection.

The U.S. accusations are entirely untenable, the spokesperson said, as China's industrial development is the result of technological innovation and the active participation of enterprises in market competition. The latest Section 301 investigation is another mistake as the World Trade Organization (WTO) has already determined that the previous U.S. administration violated WTO rules by launching similar investigations and imposing additional tariffs on Chinese goods -- actions that were also opposed by many WTO members, according to the statement. The ministry urges the United States to respect the facts and multilateral rules, immediately cease its erroneous practices, and return to the rules-based multilateral trading system. China will follow the progress of the investigation closely, and take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its rights and interests, it said.

Earlier Wednesday, The United States Trade Representative announced the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is initiating an investigation of acts, policies, and practices of China targeting the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors for dominance after review of a petition filed with USTR by five national labor unions. The petition presents serious and concerning allegations of China’s longstanding efforts to dominate the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors, cataloguing China’s use of unfair, non-market policies and practices to achieve those goals, said Ambassador Katherine Chi Tai.

Besides USTR’s investigation, the Biden administration announced new actions to protect U.S. steel and shipbuilding industry from China’s unfair practices. The new actions were said aim to address growing concerns that unfair Chinese trade practices, including flooding the market with below-market-cost steel, are distorting the global shipbuilding market and eroding competition. U.S. President Joe Biden called on the USTR  to consider tripling the existing 301 tariff rate on Chinese steel and aluminum, up from the current 7.5% average tariff on certain steel and aluminum products under Section 301. As part of new actions to protect the steel and shipbuilding industry, the U.S. Department of Commerce is taking action against countries and importers that do not play by the rules and flood the market with cheap products. Prior to the new efforts, the department has imposed over 30 anti-dumping and countervailing duties on steel-related products since Biden took office, and conducted nearly 27 investigations into anti-competitive actions by Chinese exporters and efforts by countries like China to evade trade rules. Biden is also directing his senior team to work with Mexico to jointly prevent China’s and other countries’ evasion of tariffs on steel and aluminum that is imported from Mexico into the United States.