UsChina Shipping, No anti-dumping penalties for Chinese tires in U.S.

No anti-dumping penalties for Chinese tires in U.S.

WASHINGTON, DC – The United States International Trade Commission has determined that a U.S. industry is not “materially injured or threatened with material injury” by imported Chinese truck tires that the U.S. Department of Commerce says are subsidized and sold below market value.

As a result, the U.S. Department of Commerce will not issue antidumping and countervailing duty orders on the imported products. More than 8.9 million Chinese truck and bus tires worth a collective US$1.07 billion were imported by the U.S. in 2015.

The finding was hardly unanimous, however. Chairwoman Rhonda K. Schmidtlein and commissioner Irving A. Williamson said there were damages, while vice chairman David S. Johanson and commissioners Meredith M. Broadbent and F. Scott Kieff said there were not. Commissioner Dean A. Pinkert didn’t participate.

“The ITC commissioners made a huge mistake,” said United Steelworkers International president Leo W. Gerard. “While the Department of Commerce identified subsidies of up to more than 60% and dumping of up to almost 23%, the [International Trade Commission] failed to support relief for the injured workers. That simply ignores the facts and the harm that Chinese unfairly-traded exports have caused the workers.

“The size of the margins clearly indicated the serious nature of the problem, but our law separates the facts from the determination of whether injury has occurred. For too long, that has jeopardized the jobs of workers across the country that make high quality products. Our members can compete against companies, but not countries. That’s exactly what happens when it comes to competing against China," he said. “The injury that the workers making truck and bus tires have experienced is tragic. Massive subsidies and dumping must be challenged."