The Obama Administration came down strongly on the side of labor yesterday when it agreed to place heavy additional duties on passenger tires imported from China.

Late Friday, the White House placed a three-year additional tariff on China-made tires, starting at 35%, and then scaling down to 30% the second year and 25% in the third. The duties are on top of the already standard 4% tariff but do not compound.

The new duties kick in on Sept. 26, according to the president’s order.

“The president decided to remedy the clear disruption to the U.S. tire industry based on the facts and the law in this case,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

The decision was lighter than the International Trade Commission’s recommended 55%/45%/35% scheme, but high enough to please the United Steelworkers, which brought the anti-dumping complaint back in April.

“For far too long, workers across this country have been victimized by bad trade policies and government inaction. Today, President Obama made clear that he will enforce America’s trade laws and stand with American workers,” USW President Leo Gerard said.

“The President sent the message that we expect others to live by the rules, just as we do.”

The USW’s original Section 421 complaint called for a quota system that would have limited the number of passenger tires that could be imported from China. The labor union claimed that rising imports from China had caused the loss of some 5,000 tire plant jobs in recent years.

But U.S.-based tiremakers – with the exception of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and Toyo Tire USA Corp. – remained silent on the entire issue, as did the RMA and TIA. In recent years, most tiremakers have shifted production of so-called low-cost passenger tires offshore – primarily to China – in order to remain price and profit competitive in the broadline tire market. In addition, as U.S. tiremakers exited that segment many private brand tire companies and larger importers have relied on Chinese production.

The ITC itself could not agree completely on the complaint or proposed remedy, issuing a rare 4-2 ruling calling for a tiered tariff system. The two dissenting ITC members said such tariffs were unwarranted as tiremakers were unlikely to build new plants or add production and jobs to address the lower price end of the market, and that tire plant job losses were not the result of rising importation from China, but rather the cause.

The USW, while never clear as to how quotas or tariffs would help U.S. tire workers, was pleased with the decision. “Despite imposing a different remedy than recommended by the ITC, we are optimistic that the step taken by the president will provide real, effective relief,” USW Vice President Tom Conway said.

“China and its agents here in the U.S. tried every trick in the book to protect their interests. They hired former government officials and paid them countless dollars to lobby their case. They paid for trumped up studies to support their efforts and used front groups to lobby their cause and to influence politicians,” claimed Gerard.

China, though, was not happy with the president’s decision, and threatened to take its case to the World Trade Organization for review.

“China strongly condemns this grave act of trade protectionism by the U.S.,” the spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, Yao Jian, said in a statement.

“It is an abuse of the trade remedy measures and made an extremely bad start against the backdrop of global financial crisis,” China’s statement said. China will reserve “all legitimate rights, including referring the case to the WTO.”

“This step not only violates the rules of the World Trade Organization, it is also contrary to the relevant commitments that the United States government made at the G20 financial summit,” said Yao.

Yao said the duties may result in a “chain reaction of trade protectionist measures that could slow the current pace of revival in the world economy.”

“The Chinese government will continue taking the necessary measures to support the tire industry,” he said.