BEIJING - China, increasingly the target of U.S. anti-dumping duties, urged the United States Tuesday to settle trade disputes through negotiations instead of resorting to trade protectionism.

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The U.S. Department of Commerce placed preliminary anti-dumping duties of up to 198 percent on $1.2 billion of wooden bedroom furniture imported from China last week.

"The Chinese side hopes that whenever any differences or contradictions arise, they should be resolved through discussion and negotiation and not the immediate adoption of anti-dumping measures," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news conference.

"Anti-dumping measures are a form of trade protectionism that does not benefit the healthy, smooth development of Sino-U.S. trade relations," she said.

"China's consistent position has been that it puts great emphasis on maintaining healthy, normal trade relations with the United States and hopes the two countries can move forward in developing their trade relations."

The anti-dumping action on Chinese furniture is the largest case yet brought by U.S. manufacturers against their Chinese competitors. A coalition of U.S. furniture makers and labor unions had asked for duties of up to 441 percent to offset alleged "dumping" by their Chinese rivals.

Earlier Tuesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans reiterated Washington's desire to see China's yuan currency liberalized during a visit to Beijing.

China's cheap labor and grim work safety record have come into the spotlight amid complaints by U.S. manufacturers and trade unions over the Asian giant's currency policy and labor and trade practices, which critics say make Chinese goods unfairly cheap.

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