China warns US over punitive duties

China is warning the U.S that slapping steep punitive duties on Chinese-made wind turbine towers will damage bilateral trade.

The U.S Commerce Department has set final anti-dumping duties ranging from 45 to 71- percent on utility-scale towers manufactured in China.

It has also set additional countervailing duties of around 22 to 35-percent to combat Chinese government subsidies.

China Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying:

"Trade protectionism will not only undermine Sino-U.S. trade cooperation but is not conducive to the United States' own industrial interests. We hope the two sides can fully make use of the current bilateral dialogue and cooperation mechanism to resolve the relevant trade disputes through dialogue."

A U.S trade panel has the final approval over the duties and is expected to vote on the case in late January.

The United States imported 222 million U.S dollars of wind towers from China last year.

The steel towers support turbines which generate electricity from wind.