WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Commerce Department has imposed anti-dumping tariffs of up to 99 percent on imports of Chinese tubular goods in a move Beijing condemned Friday as an abuse of protectionism. The department said Thursday it has determined that Chinese producers/exporters have sold OCTG (oil country tubular goods) in the United States at prices ranging from zero to 99.14 percent less than normal value. The duties will be imposed based on individual companies dumping rates, the Commerce Department said, adding that OCTG imports from China were valued at an estimated 2.6 billion dollars in 2008. Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than normal value. The Chinese commerce ministry said that China firmly opposes the abuse of protectionism and will take measures to seriously protect the interests of the domestic industry. It called the US tariffs discriminatory steps that would have a serious impact on the Chinese steel industrys exports. But the United Steelworkers (USW) union hailed the move as an overdue message for thousands of American laid off workers that trade laws are being enforced. The US announcement came just 10 days before President Barack Obama is due to make his first official visit to China on November 15-18 and is the latest in a series of punitive tariffs the United States has imposed on Chinese goods. USW president Leo Gerard said the OCTG anti-dumping measures were promising for US producers reeling from nearly half of the domestic industrys 6,000-strong workforce currently laid off. Chinas government and exporters are being told we are fed up with their cheating on our fair trade laws and penalties for these transgressions are long overdue, he said. Several US companies and the USW had petitioned the Commerce Department to examine Chinese underpricing of the tubes, which include a variety of steel and iron products. The unions vice president, Tom Conway, said the US governments moves gives reason to believe there will be a callback of laid-off American pipe workers who can share in the recovery of this industry once the unfairly-traded Chinese import inventory is de-stocked. In September, the United States announced it would slap duties on Chinese-made tires to protect local US industry, sparking the first major trade spat of Obamas presidency. The Commerce Department said then it would impose duties of as much as 31 percent on Chinese carbon or alloy tubular steel products used in oil and gas wells, following claims they were backed by unfair subsidies. That announcement drew a quick and angry response from Beijing. China is highly concerned over this matter. We strongly oppose such trade protectionist moves, a commerce ministry spokeswoman told AFP at the time. The Commerce Department said Thursday it had assessed that several Chinese companies were selling the tubes at 36.53 percent less than their normal value, and fixed the same tariff rate. All other Chinese producers/exporters will receive a preliminary dumping rate of 99.14 percent, the department said.