Aluminum-product makers filed a lawsuit to force the U.S. Commerce Department to levy tariffs on Chinese imports, countering the effect of a currency the companies deem to be undervalued.

Aluminum-product makers filed a lawsuit to force the U.S. Commerce Department to levy tariffs on Chinese imports, countering the effect of a currency the companies deem to be undervalued.

In a case at the Court of International Trade in New York, the makers of products used in door frames, gutters and solar- power equipment said earlier rulings by the Commerce Department to turn down their complaint violates the law.

“Chinese producers and exporters of aluminum extrusions received countervailable subsidies resulting from currency undervaluation,” the Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee said in its June 24 court filing.

In several decisions, the Commerce Department in the Obama and Bush administrations rejected requests by U.S. companies for so-called countervailing duties on imports from China to compensate for the weak currency. A low-priced currency makes exports of a nation cheaper.

U.S. lawmakers are pushing legislation to require that Commerce counter imports from China with such tariffs, as senators such as Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, say the administration already has the power to counter the low-cost imports.

Schumer plans to reintroduce legislation aimed at forcing China to raise the value of its currency, according to a letter to colleagues. Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, said she is seeking support for a petition to force a vote on similar legislation in the House. The House passed a measure in September that never reached the Senate for a vote. A new Congress took office in January.

China’s yuan appreciated about 5 percent against the dollar in the past year, while remaining “substantially undervalued,” William Cline, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, said on June 8.

Even without countering the currency, the subsidy rates the U.S. imposed on aluminum imports from China ranged from 8.02 percent to 374.15 percent.

The case was filed by a group of closely held companies. It affects as much as $503 million of imports from China last year.