WASHINGTON— The United States Commerce Department is imposing new import fees on solar panels made in China, accusing that the Chinese government is improperly giving subsidies to manufacturers of the panels there.

The department said Tuesday it has found on a preliminary basis that Chinese solar panel makers have received government subsidies of 2.9 percent to 4.73 percent. Therefore, it said, tariffs in the same proportions will be charged on Chinese panels imported into the US, depending on which company makes them.

"Today's announcement affirms what US manufacturers have long known: Chinese manufacturers have received unfair ... subsidies," Steve Ostrenga, CEO of Helios Solar Works in Milwaukee, said in a statement.

The company is a member of a group called the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing.

However, some US companies argue that low-priced Chinese imports have helped consumers and promote rapid growth of the industry.

The new tariffs are low, making the Commerce Department decision "a relatively positive outcome for the US solar industry and its 100,000 employees", said Jigar Shah, president of the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy. "However, tariffs large or small will hurt American jobs and prolong our world's reliance on fossil fuels."

The department said it was putting off until May 17 a decision on whether Chinese companies are dumping the solar panels on world markets.

Also, because the decision on subsidy-related tariffs is preliminary, the amount of those tariffs could eventually be changed.

Trade tensions with China are especially sensitive at a time when the US and other Western economies want to boost technology exports to revive economic growth and reduce high unemployment.

The Commerce Department decision "puts the White House in a bind," said David Spooner, an international trade attorney at Squire Sanders in Washington who previously held positions at Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative.

The US and China are two of the world's biggest markets for solar, wind and other renewable energy technology. Both governments are promoting their own suppliers in hopes of generating higher-paid technology jobs.