China urged the U.S. government to act “prudently” to avoid damaging economic relations between the two countries, in a strongly worded response to Washington’s preliminary decision to slap anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese aluminum foil. China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said the United States had ignored offers of cooperation from the government and Chinese companies in making its ruling. The statement, attributed to Wang Hejun, Director of MOFCOM’s Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau, was more strongly worded than typical responses to trade disputes with the United States. It said there were no grounds to accuse China’s downstream aluminum companies of benefiting from subsidies. China’s top foil producers are preparing to launch a legal challenge to the U.S. Commerce Department ruling that would slap anti-dumping duties of 16.56% to 80.97% on Chinese aluminum foil imports. Washington is also investigating whether to curb aluminum imports from China under the rarely used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows restrictions on imports for reasons of national security. U.S. aluminum foil imports from China totaled USD389 million in 2016, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.