US state governor calls for Giti Tire tariff revision

In a letter sent 16 December, the Governor of South Carolina requested the US Department of Commerce re-evaluate the 17.69 per cent tariff that applies to all consumer tyres Giti Tire imports into the US from China. Governor Nikki Haley highlighted Giti Tire’s plans to build a plant in Chester Country, South Carolina, and stated that the tariff “inequitably affects Giti’s business.”

Haley urged the Department of Commerce to “quickly resolve” the matter, however she did not suggest a more suitable tariff rate. “Giti officials said plans to build the Chester County plant show their commitment to manufacturing and distributing American-made tyres,” she wrote.

Giti Tire recently purchased a 1,100-acre (445 hectare) site in South Carolina, and plans to break ground on its new facility there in January 2015. The tyre plant is tentatively scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2016, and should eventually produce around 30,000 passenger and light truck tyres a day.