BEIJING — Regulators told Chinese banks on today to finance steel exports to help reduce a supply glut in a move that could worsen trade tensions with Europe and the United States.

Beijing faces pressure from the United States and Europe to stop what they complain is a strategy of trying to clear away a backlog of steel by exporting at improperly low prices. Washington imposed anti-dumping duties last month on Chinese steel.

The latest order to finance exports is part of instructions from the Chinese central bank and financial regulators to lenders to support the overhaul of state-owned steel and coal industries.

Beijing is trying to shrink bloated companies, many of them state-owned, in industries including steel, coal, glass, cement and aluminum in which supply exceeds demand. That has led to price-cutting wars and heavy losses.