Beijing - Entering into the United States market would cost Chinese exporters more if an anti-dumping bill was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush, a Chinese trade researcher said here on Sunday.

The bill approved days ago by Senate required American importers to submit enough customs deposits in cash to cover the full-amount of anti-dumping duties they are obliged to pay. Currently, a lesser amount of deposits in cash or negotiable notes would suffice as guaranty.

Jin Baisong, a research fellow with the Research Institute of China's Ministry of Commerce, said this bill intended to apply penalties "stricter than ever" to dumping activities. "Chinese companies would bear the first brunt as a lion's share of what the U.S. government called 'dumped products' were exported from China," he said.

The bill aiming to replace the 1989 Anti-dumping Regulation in mid-2009 didn't say that it was targeting China, though.

If American importers asked to split their required customs cash deposits with Chinese exporters, domestic companies would find their profit margin narrowed by a surging operation costs. Small and medium-sized exporters may even give up the U.S. market,Jin remarked.

Chinese experts are divided on whether Bush would approve the bill. One side claimed that the possibility was small because "maintaining a good Sino-U.S. relation was important to the U.S.". If the Chinese government protested, negotiation between China and the US might result, they said.

The other side held that the bill designed to curb duties evasion and to crack down on dumping activities conformed to the public feelings of the United States. Bush might give it the "go-ahead" as soon as possible, they said.

The U.S. is China's largest export market and the second largest trade partner across the world. The Sino-U.S. trade volume reached 211.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2005 with China registering a surplus of 114.2 billion dollars.