BEIJING, June 4 -- The preliminary ruling by the United States on imported photovoltaic (PV) products from China is an abuse of trade remedy measures, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Commerce on Tuesday set preliminary subsidy rates on Chinese PV products, signaling that it may impose punitive duties on those products.

The United States once again started anti-dumping and countervailing investigations on Chinese PV products and tried to levy high duties after it imposed duties on those products in November 2012, an official with the MOC said in a statement, adding that China is strongly discontented.

"U.S restrictions on Chinese products were an abuse of trade remedy measures and had a clear hint of trade protectionism. They will certainly worsen the Sino-U.S. dispute in PV trade," the official said.