U.S. Steel accusations groundless: Baosteel

China's Baosteel Group said in a statement on Friday that accusations by United States Steel Corp. (U.S. Steel) against it were groundless and untrue.

Baosteel Group strictly abides by laws and regulations and respects the rules of the market, the statement said.

The accusation that the company had stolen commercial secretes in particular is baseless speculation and subjective assumption -- an absurd statement, it said, adding that it was an insult to the company's hardworking research and development staff.

"Baosteel will protect its legal rights in accordance with related international regulations and laws," the Baosteel statement said.

An unnamed official with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Wednesday that China and the United States should improve dialogue and communication on global steel overcapacity, following a trade complaint from U.S. Steel.

U.S. Steel lodged a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday, under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, against around 40 Chinese steel producers and their distributors.

Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel said in a statement that its complaint regarded "alleged illegal unfair competition methods and [it] seeks the exclusion of all unfairly traded Chinese steel products from the U.S. market."

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

The MOC official said he hoped the ITC would overrule the charges as the provision cited by U.S Steel had mostly been used in intellectual property rights (IPR) dispute cases.

"Steel products are relatively mature and there are no IPR disputes regarding them. Charges of IPR infringement are groundless," the official said.

The steel industries in the United States and China should strengthen dialogue and communication to jointly address overcapacity, which is a result of anemic global economic recovery and tepid demand, the official added. Endi