Final US vote approves tariffs for Chinese tyres

The US Department of Commerce will issue antidumping and countervailing duty orders on certain passenger car and light truck tyres imported from China after a three-to-three vote by the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) determined the domestic tyre industry is “materially injured” by imports of “subsidised” Chinese tyres that are sold in the USA at “less than fair value.”

Three of the six ITC commissioners – vice-chairman Dean A. Pinkert and commissioners Irving A. Williamson and Rhonda K. Schmidtlein – voted in the affirmative (an even vote is sufficient to establish a finding of injury) on 14 July, while chairman Meredith M. Broadbent and commissioners David S. Johanson and F. Scott Kieff voted in the negative.

The ITC reports that it “also made negative findings with respect to critical circumstances” – details about these findings will be available in the ITC’s public report, titled ‘Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires from China’, which is due for publication before or on 24 August 2015.

USW applauds decision

The United Steelworkers union, who last year petitioned for the investigation into instances of dumping and its potential harm to the US tyre industry, says it welcomes yesterday’s decision. “We applaud the ITC for their decision in issuing an affirmative final determination for tariffs on Chinese tyres being illegally dumped and subsidised into the US market,” commented USW International president Leo W. Gerard. “The outcome in the USW’s pursuit of this case will not only help protect USW members and their families but also helps protect the jobs and futures of the tens of thousands of workers employed within the US tyre industry.”

Gerard said the USW is “sick and tired of China’s approach to trade and breaking of the rules,” and he opined that the country’s entry into the World Trade Organization has “done little to stop its cheating.” According to the USW International president, yesterday’s decision “will make a big difference for our members,” and he implored Barack Obama to make sector overcapacity issues such as this “top priority on his agenda” when meeting China’s president Xi in September.

Nine tyre makers currently operate production facilities in the United States and employ around 25,000 production and related workers. US producers shipped US$11.6 billion worth of products in the domestic market last year, while tyre imports from China amounted to $2.6 billion. According to the ITC, the ratio of Chinese imports to apparent US consumption in 2014 was 11.6 per cent.