(Adds background, details)
WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department said on Tuesday it has set preliminary duties on imports of concrete steel wire strand and steel grating from China to offset government subsidies.
The duties range from 7.53 percent to 12.06 percent on the steel wire strand and 7.44 percent on the steel grating, the Commerce Department said.
Imports of the wire strand have risen to $178 million in 2008, from $112 million in 2006. Imports of the steel grating have risen to nearly $91 million in 2008 from close to $9 million in 2006, the Commerce Department said.
The determination comes shortly before U.S. officials meet counterparts in China for the 20th meeting of a joint U.S.-China trade commission, the main bilateral forum for addressing trade and investment matters.
Commerce said it would issue its final determination in January on whether China exports to the United States of prestressed concrete steel wire strand from China violate U.S. trade laws.
The U.S. priority for bilateral trade talks is to get China to crack down on piracy of U.S. intellectual property and to open markets for U.S. energy goods, medical devices and pharmaceutical products, officials say.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, speaking at a conference in Guangzhou, China on Tuesday, said the United States welcomes the rise in the Chinese yuan's exchange rate in recent years, but wants the currency to climb further.
U.S. President Barack Obama is due to visit China next month for talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
The yawning U.S. trade deficit with China has been a steady source of friction between the two countries, but the gap has declined by 15 percent in the first eight months of 2009, compared with the same period last year, as recession in the United States dented demand for Chinese imports. (Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Eric Walsh)