Nearly a year after the Obama Administration imposed a punitive added levy on China-made consumer tires imported into the U.S., TIA is calling on the president to either pull the plug or come up with an accurate report on the tariff’s true impact.
One Sept. 26, 2009, the Administration imposed a three-year tiered additional tariff on passenger and light truck/SUV tires imported from China, with the first year tariff set at 35%. Over the following two years, the tariff would decrease to 30% and 25% before ending completely.
TIA, which opposed the tariff, called on the president to “end of the tariff, or, in the alternative, for the U.S. International Trade Commission to fulfill its obligation under Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974 to collect accurate, objective data on the tariff’s effects.”
“Certain parties with a clear agenda are claiming they have data that demonstrates the success of the tariffs,” said TIA executive vice president Roy Littlefield. “We know that most of this data is, in reality, anecdotal, and we believe they are also distorting other data by obscuring critical details.
“TIA believes that if the president will not eliminate this punitive tariff, at the very least, his administration owes the tire industry an objective and accurate report that will specifically compare tire imports from China to tire imports from other Asian countries on a current-year vs. previous-year basis, and to identify exactly which tire lines are now being manufactured by U.S. tiremakers,” Littlefield said.
Under the Section 421 provision, TIA noted, after six months, the president has the option to modify, reduce or terminate the relief that has been granted. The provision also clearly states that the USITC, “upon the granting of relief under subsection (k) of this section, shall collect such data as is necessary to allow it to respond rapidly to a request by the president.”
