In a statement, Eggert said that while the U.S. is taking “vigorous” action against unfairly traded imports, the union is imposing comparatively meek provisional duties of 13 to 16 percent on the same products. The duties are insufficient, he said, and therefore will likely fail to deter dumping, he said. 

The Commerce Department last week announced the preliminary duties on imports from China and six other countries -- Brazil, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United Kingdom. The duties on those countries generally range from 4.53 percent to 38.93 percent. Chinese-made cold rolled steel, however, will be assessed a duty of 265.79 percent. 

Final determinations are due in May and July.

In February, the union announced duties on the same products from China and Russia, saying that producers there were undercutting European prices. The provisional duties range from 13.8 to 16 percent for Chinese-made goods and from 19.8 to 26.2 percent for Russian-made goods.  

Eggert said the low duty is due to the European Union's insistence on applying the so-called lesser duty rule. 

The rule requires the union to calculate a dumping margin and an injury margin and apply the lower of the two as the duty, the association said. As a result, the provisional China duty was based on an injury margin of 13 to 16 percent, rather than on the calculated dumping margin of 60 percent, the association said. 

“In contrast to the U.S., the EU continues to apply the Lesser Duty Rule in its anti-dumping methodology. This cuts down the applicable anti-dumping tariff to a level that does not even address the injury to the industry, let alone actually deter dumping,” Eggert said.