U.S. slaps duties on Chinese tires for cars and light trucks

The U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC) today announced the final antidumping and countervailing duty margins to set out the tariffs that will be applied to unfairly traded imports of passenger vehicle and light truck tire imports from China that benefited from subsidies or were dumped in the U.S. market.  

The action updates the preliminary margins that were announced earlier in the consideration of the case, which was filed by the United Steelworkers (USW) earlier this year.  The margins announced by USDOC will set the cash deposit rates if the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) makes a final affirmative injury determination in the case.

The USW filed unfair trade cases on May 30, 2014 with the USDOC and the USITC, alleging that certain tires from China had been dumped and subsidized, resulting in injury to the domestic industry and its employees.

The antidumping margins announced by the USDOC on imports from China ranged from 14.35 to 87.99%. Countervailing duties on products from China range from 20.73 to 100.77%.   If the USITC votes affirmatively in their upcoming injury determination, these rates will apply for the term of the relief.  The USITC will vote on July 14, 2015, transmitting the findings to the USDOC on July 27th.

The USDOC announcement on the PVLT tires trade case against China follows a hearing earlier this week before the USITC, where the USW presented views about the injury that has been inflicted because of China's unfair trade practices.

Leo W. Gerard, USW International President said: "Today's announcement further validates our allegations made more than one year ago about the unfair trade practices of tire producers in China. They have once again targeted the U.S. market in an attempt to increase employment in China at the cost of job opportunities here in America.   We shouldn't have to wait so long for relief, nor spend so much time and effort proving what is evident to anyone.  China is cheating and it's costing us jobs."  

The USITC heard from USW local union leaders and congressional representatives at a Washington hearing on Jun. 9 about the injury that has been inflicted by producers in China.

"We made clear that Chinese imports have dampened production, job creation and wages here at home," Gerard said.  "China is taking advantage of our market but claims that no one is being injured.   That's simply not true."

The USW President added, "Commerce's margin announcement coupled with the clear injury that has occurred will hopefully result in relief for our members."  

Stan Johnson, USW Secretary-Treasurer and chair of the union's rubber industry bargaining council testified at the USITC hearing. He said: "All we want is a fair chance to compete." Also testifying were several USW local union presidents representing workers employed by tire makers and Members of Congress.

The USW represents 850,000 workers in North America employed among industries that include metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, plus the service and public sectors.