The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said China was “strongly dissatisfied” with the U.S. for its final ruling on Chinese exports of cold-rolled flat steel. The U.S. adopted unfair methods in its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes into Chinese products, it said, adding that China is taking action under the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement framework. The U.S. Commerce Department set anti-dumping duties of 265.79% and anti-subsidy duties of 256.44% on imports of cold-rolled flat steel from China. The ruling will not affect Chinese steelmakers in the short term since their steel exports to the U.S. market had already fallen to less than 1% of total steel exports. “We cannot underestimate the case based on the volume involved. Even though it will not affect Chinese companies in the short term, it matters about whether Chinese companies have really dumped or received unfair subsidies or not,” said Zhou Mi, Senior Research Fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. Any trade protection practice can trigger disputes between the two countries and lead to a global trade war, he said.