WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department Wednesday set preliminary anti-dumping duties on steel nails from China and the United Arab Emirates it said were being sold in the United States at unfairly low prices.

"Price discrimination hurts American manufacturers," Commerce Assistant Secretary for Import Administration David Spooner said in a statement. "The administration is committed to aggressively enforcing America's trade remedy laws in order to achieve strong and fair relationships with our trading partners."

The preliminary duties range from 20.77 to 118.04 percent on imports from China and 4.47 percent on imports from UAE. China faces higher duties because its companies are selling to the U.S. market at a steeper discount than UAE producers, Commerce said.

The department has slapped duties on a number of Chinese goods in recent months it said were either subsidized or being sold to U.S. store and distributors at less than fair value.

The latest action covers steel nails up to 12 inches in length and in a variety of finishes, heads, shanks, points and sizes.

U.S. steel nail manufacturers in Missouri, California, Florida and Illinois requested the duties last year.

U.S. Customs will collect cash deposits or bonds from importers based on the preliminary duty rates, while the Commerce Department continues its investigation.

The department will make a final decision on the size of anti-dumping duties by early June.

The U.S. International Trade Commission must make a final determination that American producers are harmed by the low-price imports for final anti-dumping duties to go into force.

That vote is expect by late July.