Shen Danyang, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, made the remarks at the press conference on Wednesday.

 

　　Shen said China's foreign trade situation would remain grim this year.

 

　　"Our goal in 2013 is to encourage trade to grow at the same rate as the GDP while further stabilizing and expanding the country's share in global trade."

 

　　Shen says anemic external demand and a rough trade environment cannot be fundamentally solved.However, some domestic factors have shown some positive signs.

 

　　At the same time, China's Ministry of Commerce says the European Commission's anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes into Chinese steel products are "unreasonable".

 

　　"We strongly demand the EU side to obey by the rules of World Trade Organization. The EU side should respect the facts and withdraw their unreasonable decisions. We will closely follow the progress of this case. And we reserve our rights to deal with the dispute within the legal framework of WTO."

 

　　The European Commission earlier complained that Chinese steel manufacturers have received illegal subsidies.

 

　　The EU plans to levy a 50-percent anti-subsidy tax on China's organic coating steel.

 

　　A final ruling is yet to be made by the commission.