Washington ? The Bush administration on Friday proposed new tariffs on imports of Chinese-made furniture, saying companies have been dumping millions of dollars of the wooden bedroom furniture into the United States at artificially low prices.

The proposed tariffs ranged from 5 percent to 198 percent on such wood items as beds, dressers, armoires and desks, the International Trade Commission said.

The preliminary decision was a victory for more than two dozen American furniture manufacturers and their unions, which filed a petition seeking the investigation. They complained that China’s practices were costing U.S. jobs.

But U.S. retailers, including J.C. Penney and Crate & Barrel, oppose the tariffs, saying retail jobs would be lost.

A final decision is expected in December. Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao will travel to China next week for more talks aimed at boosting U.S. exports and narrowing America’s record trade deficit with China.