The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has found increased levels of Chinese government subsidies to Chinese off-the-road tiremakers and that these tiremakers have made sales below less-than-fair value in the U.S. market. These findings come after the DOC released its final review results on imports of OTR tires from China for the 2014 – 2015 time period (dumping order) and 2014 (countervailing duty order).
The DOC found subsidy levels increased from 2.52-5.65% to 34.46-46.01%. The DOC also found in the dumping review that OTR tires produced by major Chinese tiremakers were sold at lower than fair value on the U.S. market, ranging 33.05-105.31%.
In response to these findings, the DOC will issue liquidation instructions to the U.S. Customs to assess duties equal to the amount found. If the amount is more than the cash deposits posted at the time of entry, importers are liable for the difference plus interest from the date of entry.
“These results confirm our belief that the levels of government subsidization had significantly increased and that the amount of dumping has continued,” said Paul Reitz, Titan International’s president and CEO said. Titan and the United Steelworkers (USW) originally petitioned for the existing OTR tire orders.
“The continued monitoring by the DOC of these orders and the imposition of accurate amounts of countervailing and antidumping duties is an important step in restoring conditions of fair trade. We will continue to work with the DOC to ensure that any and all subsidization and dumping by Chinese producers is met by appropriate duty levels. We have been fighting and will continue to fight against the unfair trade practices of any U.S. trading partners,” Reitz adds.
