WASHINGTON – The Bush administration on Tuesday upheld the imposition of penalty tariffs on shrimp imports from China and Vietnam, handing a victory to beleaguered U.S. shrimp producers.

The action affirmed with slight modifications a preliminary ruling by the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration last summer. Border agents have collected the penalty tariffs since July.

The department is scheduled to make a final decision on shrimp imports from four other countries – Brazil, Ecuador, India and Thailand – in late December.

In the decision Tuesday, the government set duties on Chinese exports of frozen and canned warm-water shrimp at levels ranging from 27.9 percent to 112.8 percent. Vietnamese shrimp exports will be hit with duties ranging from 4.1 percent to 25.8 percent.

The tariffs were imposed because a government investigation found the shrimp from those nations was being sold in the U.S. market at unfairly low prices, a practice known as dumping.