The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) on Friday announced a final decision that Samsung and LG engaged in ongoing dumping of clothes washers from China into the United States, in violation of U.S. and international trade laws.

The ruling is in response to a petition filed by Whirlpool Corporation in December 2015.

In today's ruling, the DOC announced antidumping margins of 52.51 percent for Samsung, and 32.12 percent for LG. Upon an anticipated affirmative U.S. International Trade Commission ruling in January 2017 on injury from the dumping, and any technical corrections from the DOC to account for possible clerical errors, Samsung and LG will be required to pay cash deposits at these substantial rates.

"The Commerce Department's ruling is an important victory in the continuing efforts to hold companies accountable when they systematically violate trade laws to gain a competitive advantage," said Jeff Fettig, chairman and chief executive officer of Whirlpool Corp. "We are strongly committed to the application and enforcement of trade laws, which support fair competition, a solid U.S. manufacturing base and continued investments in innovation that improve the lives of our consumers."

Today the DOC also declined to apply Samsung's dumping rate retroactively. Although Samsung was stockpiling washers to avoid dumping duties, the stockpiling did not meet the DOC's legal threshold for critical circumstances.

"Samsung is pleased that the U.S. Department of Commerce's ruling confirms that we did not inappropriately increase imports prior to the preliminary determination, leading to no retroactive duties," Samsung said. "We are, however, disappointed by the Department's final duty rate calculations. These calculations were based on an unrealistic benchmark price that did not reflect market realities. Samsung remains committed to fair competition and delivering innovation to the marketplace and will continue to deliver products that meet the highest standards in design, performance, and quality to our customers."

In January, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is expected to vote on whether the dumped imports caused injury to the U.S. clothes washer industry.