View of the Ministry of Commerce of China in Beijing, China, 15 April 2009. [Photo: Imagine China]

China's Ministry of Commerce has urged more dialogue and communication with the United States on global steel overcapacity, following a trade complaint from United States Steel Corporation.

U.S. Steel lodged the complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), against around 40 Chinese steel producers and their distributors.

U.S. Steel's complaint pointed to "alleged illegal unfair competition methods and seeks the exclusion of all unfairly traded Chinese steel products from the U.S. market."

The Ministry of Commerce has expressed hopes that the ITC would overrule the charges as the provision cited by U.S Steel had mostly been used in intellectual property rights dispute cases.

The ITC has up to 30 days to decide whether it will initiate the case.