China said on April 13 it has imposed duties on a common electrical steel made in the United States and Russia, in apparent retaliation for Washington's recent decision to slap tariffs on Chinese pipes.

The announcement came as Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington, D.C. for a nuclear security summit.

The commerce ministry ruled that the United States and Russia sold the grain-oriented electrical steel, which is widely used in the power industry, at less than normal value.

Importers of the steel will have to pay an anti-dumping tax of up to 64.8% on products from the United States and up to 24% on those from Russia, the commerce ministry said.

China also will charge a countervailing tax of up to 44.6% after an investigation found U.S. companies received government subsidies on grain-oriented electrical steel.

The move is the first time China has launched a dual anti-dumping and countervailing investigation on a foreign product.

Last week, the Commerce Department said it had made a "final determination" in an anti-dumping probe that China had sold tubes used in oil and gas wells in the United States at a price less than fair value. The department said a cash deposit or bond equal to the weighted-average dumping margins would be collected on the goods, which were valued at around $1.1 billion in 2009.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010