TITAN MAY SUE TIRE IMPORTERS AS ITC DROPS INQUIRY

Titan International has confirmed it will consider suing tire importers after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)dropped investigations into cheap imports of off-the-road (OTR) tires from China.

Titan and United Steelworkers (USW) filed a joint petition with the ITC last month against cheap OTR tire imports from China, India and Sri Lanka, claiming they were harming the U.S. OTR industry and affecting American jobs.

On February 19 the ITC determined there was a “reasonable indication that a U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of imports of certain new pneumatic off-the-road tires from India that are allegedly sold in the United States at less than fair value and subsidized by the governments of India and Sri Lanka.” However, it also determined that “imports of these products from China are negligible.”

As a result, the U.S. Department of Commerce will continue to conduct investigations on imports of tires from India and Sri Lanka, with its preliminary countervailing duty determinations due around April 4 and its preliminary antidumping duty determinations due around June 16.TITAN VOWS TO FIGHT ONTitan CEO and Chairman Maurice Taylor said: “Titan is gratified that the USITC made affirmative preliminary determinations on imports from India and Sri Lanka. However, we are disappointed that the commission chose not to pursue the investigation on mounted tires from China.

“We will review the USITC’s decision when it is released in the forthcoming weeks and will consider what steps, if any, should be pursued.”

He confirmed Titan was consulting with lawyers about potentially taking civil action against U.S. importers of Chinese OTR tires he claimed were “gaming the system.”

“We have also asked our lawyers to look at various federal laws to see if there are any grounds to seek civil relief against any importers for fraud regarding the tire/wheel assemblies to avoid duties.

“We are gathering all the information,” he said. “We don’t run away from a fight.”PREVIOUS BATTLES INSPIRE CONFIDENCEIn 2007 Titan won antidumping and countervailing duties on OTR tires from China, but claims over the past few years companies have been putting wheels into tires to get around the duties. Unmounted OTR tires from China are now covered by antidumping and countervailing duty orders that resulted from the earlier case, though entries of mounted tires from China are not.

“Titan and the USW believe that we have a common sense case, wherein if you have separate duties on tires and steel wheels, the duties should not disappear if the two are sold together,” Taylor said.

“The duties should stay with the products. This should be true if the wheel and tire assemblies are imported individually or on a machine. In both instances, a duty should be paid.”USW DISAPPOINTED AT ITC’S DECISIONUSW International President Leo W. Gerard said USW was disappointed with the ITC’s ruling regarding Chinese imports and that the investigation would be terminated; however, it was heartened that investigations would continue into imports from India and Sri Lanka.

“The commission vote puts USW-represented tire workers one step closer to the relief they need from unfairly traded off-the-road tires,” he said.

“Countries around the world are dumping and subsidizing their products to take advantage of our market, forcing us to fight unfair trade after injury has already been inflicted. Our government should be initiating action, not us.”

The ITC’s public report will be available after March 23 on the commission’s website.