China decries a U.S. decision to impose steep duties on Chinese-made cold-rolled flat steel on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. [Photo: news.163.com]

China on Wednesday decried a U.S. decision to impose steep duties on Chinese-made cold-rolled flat steel.

The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said China was "strongly dissatisfied" with the United States for its final ruling on Chinese exports of cold-rolled flat steel.

MOC criticized the United States for adopting unfair methods in its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes into Chinese products and urged the U.S. to rectify its mistakes.

China is taking action under the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement framework, said the ministry website.

Since 2015, the United States has taken frequent trade remedy measures, trying to shift its domestic steel industry hardships abroad, violating the principles of the WTO and disrupting the order of the steel trade, it said.

The steel industry faces global challenges. Resorting to protectionism will not solve the problem, it said.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Commerce Department set final anti-dumping duties of 265.79 percent and anti-subsidy duties of 256.44 percent on imports of cold-rolled flat steel from China.