China's Ministry of Commerce on Friday said that it regretted and was deeply concerned about anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe applications by several U.S. solar product makers which asked the U.S. government to investigate Chinese exports of solar panels.

A senior official with the Bureau of Fair Trade for Imports and Exports of the ministry told Xinhua that China currently registered a trade deficit of 1.88 billion U.S. dollars with the U.S. in the trade of solar products and the raw materials and equipment in making clean energy products.

The official warned that if the U.S. slapped punitive tariffs on Chinese exports of solar panels, it would also hurt U.S. exports of raw materials and manufacturing equipment to China.

He said that if the U.S. decided to launch the probe, it would risk sending a "wrong signal" of trade protectionism to the entire industry around the globe.