WASHINGTON, April 13: Worries that recent US trade actions against China signal an impending trade war between the two countries are “way overblown,” US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said on Friday.

The United States has filed a pair of cases against China at the World Trade Organisation for movie, music and software piracy violations and market access barriers that it says keep legitimate US copyrighted products out.

Those cases followed a Commerce Department policy change in late March that opened the door for US companies to seek new duties on subsidized imports from China.

Gutierrez said those steps were legitimate ways of handling frictions in the trade relationship.

“The speculation about a trade war -- those comments are way overblown. We have a massive trading relationship with China and you know we'll have some differences and we'll have some issues,” he said in an interview.

“But the bulk of the relationship is very strong and continues to flow very smoothly.” Gutierrez spoke a few hours after the Commerce Department released data showing the massive US trade deficit with the rest of the world narrowed unexpectedly in February to $58.4 billion from $59.1 billion in January.—Reuters