BEIJING, Aug 17 (Reuters) - China is highly concerned with increasing steel trade protectionism from Europe and will seek to protect the rights of Chinese steel export companies using legal measures, commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said on Wednesday.

Commerce ministry is entitled to conduct a probe if the merger deal between Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing and the China unit of U.S. rival Uber suggest a potential monopoly in the making, Shen said.

The ministry has not yet received an application from Didi or Uber on their merger deal, he added.

(Reporting by Sue-lin Wong and Chen Yawen; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)