Chinese trade experts are warning of increasing trade friction between China and the United States, saying that US trade protection measures are unlikely to ease in the short term.

Their warnings came after the US said Tuesday in a preliminary ruling that it would impose duties of 2.9 to 4.7 percent on Chinese solar cells and panels.

The decision followed an investigation into whether the Chinese producers received unfair financial support.

Chinese experts suggested countermeasures, including an appeal to the World Trade Organization and anti-subsidy investigations into US exports.

As the US presidential election approaches, trade protection measures from the US "will be very frequent in the short term", Zhang Yongjun, deputy research director at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a government think tank, told China Daily on Wednesday.

"The situation may get better next year when the election is over and the US economy further recovers and unemployment further declines."

Wang Haifeng, director of international economics at the Institute for International Economic Research, a think tank under the National Development and Reform Commission, agreed that "US trade protection measures targeting China will not decline, because of the sluggish US economy and China's huge trade surplus with the US".

Zhou Shijian, a senior trade expert from the Center for US-China Relations at the Beijing-based Tsinghua University, said that "the slow recovery of the economy and high unemployment in the US are mainly responsible for the recent surge of trade protection measures against China".

The writer can be reached at lijiabao@chinadaily.com.cn.