The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has again urged both sides to re-engage the Brexit negotiation process with vigour in order to achieve a satisfactory deal. Bringing its latest calculations to the table, the industry association stresses that ‘no deal’ is a high stake gamble not only for the automotive sector but also for hopes of a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis.
The USW has petitioned for and received an extension from the US Department of Commerce, pushing back to November the deadline for completion of the preliminary determination on its antidumping and countervailing duty complaint targeting China-made consumer tyres imported into the US, Tire Review reports.
Moves by United States trade authorities towards reintroducing duties on certain Chinese tyres have been applauded by the union representing many US tyre industry workers, yet China says this not only contradicts international trade rules and national law, but any new antidumping or countervailing duties that emerge from current investigations will also fail to achieve their intended result.
US exporters have been hit with an additional tariff by Brazil, a WTO-backed retaliation for what it calls “illegal” subsidies to US cotton farmers, reports Tire Review. Brazil’s new tariff structure, set to engage in 30 days barring a last minute agreement between the two countries, hits a wide range of products, including cars (from 35 to 50 per cent), cotton and cotton products (a full 100 per cent increase) and – most importantly around these parts – tyres (jumping from 16 to 32 per cent). In all, some 100 goods are now subject to higher import rates by Brazil, and could total $830 million annually.
President Barack Obama’s decision to apply a 35 per cent import duty on all passenger car and light truck tyres from China for a period of three years may have been intended to “remedy market disruption caused by a surge in [Chinese] tyre imports” into the US, but it has also provoked a sharp response from the Chinese ministry of commerce and played havoc with the share prices of Far Eastern tyre manufacturers. China’s state media said the US import duties would cost 100,000 jobs and $1 billion (£600 million).
Announcing the decision (on Friday 11 September 2009), the White House explained that the 35 per cent ad valorem levy would be placed in addition to the existing 4 per cent import duty on imports of Chinese-product passenger car and light truck tyres. The duty will reduce to 30 per cent ad valorem in the second year, and 25 per cent ad valorem the third year. The US International Trade Commission had recommended a 55 per cent tariff in the first year, 45 per cent in the second year and 35 per cent in the third year.
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