U.S. consistently raised concerns with China on IT rules - trade office

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States administration has consistently pressed China about the impact of regulations on U.S. information technology firms, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative said on Thursday.

U.S. business lobbies on Wednesday called for "urgent discussions" with the Chinese government over new cybersecurity regulations.

"The United States has consistently raised with China our concerns over the effect of such regulatory actions on U.S. IT companies as part of our ongoing exchanges on cyber and trade and investment issues," the spokesman said. 

"While we agree that countries must take steps to improve the cybersecurity of IT software and hardware, such policies should not be used to discriminate against U.S. companies and prevent them providing their products and services in the Chinese market."

(Reporting by Krista Hughes; Editing by Sandra Maler)