Beijing said it opposes a U.S. probe into China's shipbuilding industry, calling the investigation a politically driven move full of "false accusations" and threatening to take further action.

The U.S. Trade Representative said Wednesday that it will open an investigation into China's policies and practices in the maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors, a move that came after five national labor unions filed a petition to Katherine Tai's office.

"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 Tai.

China's commerce ministry pushed back on Tai's comments in a Wednesday statement, saying that the USTR misinterpreted normal trade and investment practices as harming U.S. national security and corporate interests and that its accusations are "baseless and against economic common sense."

The U.S. government has provided hundreds of billions of dollars in discriminatory subsidies to its own industries, the Chinese commerce ministry said, adding that "the U.S. accusations are simply untenable."

Separately, President Biden on Wednesday called for raising tariffs on imports of Chinese steel and aluminum, part of his efforts to boost the American steel sector, in a year where trade is an election flashpoint.

Biden, who discussed the steps Wednesday during a visit in Pennsylvania, asked his trade officials to more than triple a key tariff rate on such products to 25% from 7.5%, in addition to a separate 25% tariff on steel and a 10% duty on aluminum imposed under the Trump administration. The higher tariffs would only affect 0.6% of U.S. demand for steel, according to a U.S. official.

While China's commerce ministry didn't directly comment on Biden's latest remarks, it urged the U.S. not to repeat actions made by the Trump administration, which launched a series of probes into Chinese products and raised tariffs.

"We urge the U.S. to respect facts and multilateral rules, immediately stop its wrong practices and return to the rules-based multilateral trading system," the commerce ministry said.

"China will pay close attention to the progress of the investigation and will take all necessary measures to resolutely defend its rights and interests," the ministry added.

The Biden administration is also studying raising tariffs on a range of Chinese exports to the U.S., including electric vehicles, batteries and solar products. The U.S. needs to take "decisive" action to protect the EV sector from subsidized Chinese competitors, Katherine Tai told a U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday.


Write to Singapore Editors at singaporeeditors@dowjones.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-17-24 2229ET