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CHINA is greatly concerned about the European Union’s protectionist measures against Chinese steel products, the commerce ministry said on Saturday.

“The Chinese side has expressed great concerns and worries about the EU’s trade protectionist tendency over steel,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The ministry was responding to the EU’s latest decision to take temporary anti-dumping measures against imports of Chinese seamless steel pipes, based on preliminary investigations, it said.

A worldwide steel glut has stoked trade disputes between China, the world’s top maker of the construction material, and other producers such as the United States and the EU.

China is the EU’s second-largest trade partner but they have had a series of disputes over cheap Chinese exports that Europeans say are unfairly flooding their market.

High duties levied on Chinese products could hurt Chinese companies, the ministry said.

“China is willing to strengthen exchanges and communication with the European side and properly solve problems that the steel industry is facing,” it said.

“These new measures have no basis in World Trade Organization rules,” said ministry spokesman Shen Danyang, adding the EU was illegally stripping China of its WTO rights.