On June 3, the United Steelworkers filed a petition for relief against Chinese passenger and light truck tire imports with the International Trade Commission. The petition requests antidumping and countervailing duty relief under Sections 701 and 731 of the Trade Act of 1930.
“Unfairly priced imports of tires from China have resumed flooding the U.S. market,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “Domestic tire producers have been rapidly losing market share over the last two years. Domestic shipments have been undercut by skyrocketing import growth from China, and while our economy recovers, domestic producers and their workers have not adequately shared in the benefits.
“Dumping margins identified in the case are as high as 92%. Simply put, China is stealing American jobs and the Steelworkers intend to fight for every one of those jobs,” he said.
The last time the USW petitioned the ITC against Chinese tires, the effort resulted in three years of substantial tariffs against Chinese tires.
In 2009, the USW had filed a petition for relief under Section 421 of the Trade Act, which is designed to help U.S. industries being harmed by an upsurge of imports from China. The ITC and U.S. Trade Representation ruled in the USW’s favor and President Barrack Obama signed an order imposing the Chinese tire tariff. The tariff imposed duties of 39% the first year, 34% the second and 29% the third year. In 2012, the duty returned to 4%.
In a “Key Facts Sheet” provided by the USW, the union group says that “the coverage of the case is essentially the same as the petition for relief filed by the Steelworkers under Section 421 of the trade laws.”The group said that effort was a “real success.”
“China is at it again. After the relief provided by the president expired in 2012, China again targeted the U.S. market. Imports have more than doubled to 50.8 million tires last year, and in the first quarter of 2014 alone, imported tires from China surged an additional 24.6% This is a valuable market that China wants to exploit, and action to address this problem is vital,” the USW said.
In its fact sheet the USW points to data that shows 24 million Chinese tires sold in 2011 before the tariff expired and nearly 51 million in 2013.
“Our fight for jobs in the sector is far from over,” said USW International Vice President Tom Conway. “China is expanding its industry and has targeted the U.S. market as the place to dump product and subsidize sales. As China expands production and increases employment in this sector, it is our workers who pay the price with job losses.”
When the tariff was repealed in Sept. 2012, the Tire Industry Association has issued a statement saying the tariff failed to save or add new jobs.
In its statement, TIA pointed to a report by the Peterson Institute for International Economics that claimed, “approximately 1,200 American jobs were saved as a result of the Chinese tire tariffs,” but, in fact, the tariff action by the Obama Administration “mostly benefited other tire exporting countries first and American manufacturers second.”
TIA has no comment at this time in regard to the new petition. The group will be discussing it a their upcoming board meeting this month. The Rubber Manufacturers Alliance also has not had the chance to speak with its members on the issue so cannot yet make a comment.
