US Department of Commerce proceeding with tyre import tariff case
Chinese tyres doubled market share between 2011 and 2013
The US Department of Commerce Department is proceeding with the US United Steelworker’s case against Chinese tyre imports into America. The union is pushing for new import duties similar to those that were introduced in 2009 and has hailed the news that the case is continuing and as a significant step forward in the process.
“The US Department of Commerce has completed a poll of domestic companies involved in the manufacture of passenger vehicle and light truck tyres. That poll verified the union has official legal standing to bring the anti-dumping and countervailing duty petitions in a trade case against PVLT tyre imports from China.”
Writing in a statement published by the USW on 15 July, he added: “Both the dumping and subsidy cases are now being initiated by Commerce. The next step in the process of achieving fair trade in passenger vehicle and light truck tires is the US International Trade Commission (USITC) preliminary injury determination. The commission is scheduled to vote on these trade cases next Tuesday, July 22.”
The case alleges massive dumping and substantial government subsidization of sales of these products by China into the US market.
The growth of Chinese tyres imports into the US since 2011
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 1Q 2013 | 1Q 2014 | |
| Customs Value | |||||
| $968,099,864 | $1,266,068,467 | $2,077,678,896 | $437749975 | $510,435,378 | |
| Number of tyres | |||||
| 24,566,033 | 31,484,889 | 50,832,749 | 10,269,594 | 12,793,105 |
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Source: USW
When the USW filed the petition last month, Gerard stated: “Filing trade cases is not something we take lightly. We would prefer that countries live by the rules. But when our union members are injured, the Steelworkers act. We cannot stand idly by while China steals our jobs. Enforcing the rules is a fundamental prerequisite of the trading system, and China’s cheating is seriously undermining it.”
According to the USW, between 2011 and 2013, Chinese tyres more than doubled their share of the US market, from 9 to 18 per cent. And the union’s argument is that the gain in China’s market share was “at the direct expense of US workers and
domestic producers, whose market share fell from 47 to 40 per cent over the period, with China squeezing out other imports as well.”
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