The US International Trade Commission (ITC) announced on Thursday it would maintain the anti-dumping duty on steel concrete reinforcing bars from seven countries, including China. The duty margin on the products from China now runs at 133 percent.

The other six countries are Belarus, Indonesia, Latvia, Moldova, Poland and Ukraine. The commission said that the anti-dumping duties, once lifted, may cause substantial damage to steel-related industries in the US in the foreseeable future.

This is the second five-year "sunset review" since September 7, 2001, when the duty was first introduced. In 2006, the US Commerce Department initiated the investigation again and the ITC later made an affirmative response, extending the order to a decade.

A "sunset review" is an evaluation of the need for the continued existence of a program or an agency. In this case, the review was conducted every five years after anti-dumping duties were introduced.

The Ministry of Commerce has repeatedly urged the United States to abide to its commitment against protectionism and work together with China and other members of the international community to maintain a free, open and just international trade environment.