Last week, the World Trade Organization Appellate Body ruled that the U.S. Department of Commerce was indeed double charging duties on certain OTR tires being imported from China.
The Appellate Body said the Commerce Department had been charging both "antidumping" and "countervailing" duties on the tires, agreeing with Chinese tiremakers that the levying antidumping duty based on non-market-economy methodology coupled with countervailing duties was a violation of WTO regulations.
The case originated in June 2007 when Titan Tire, the USW and Bridgestone brought a complaint against several Chinese tiremakers and importers. In August 2008, the International Trade Commission sided with the complainants in a 5-1 vote, and slapped duties as high as 210% on some imported OTR tires.
As a result, many companies were significantly damaged, and one – GPX International – was forced into a bankruptcy sale.
Subsequently, the case was challenged in the U.S. Court of International Trade, which twice ruled in favor of the importers that they were being double-dipped on duties.
The USW, for its part, called the ruling "deeply troubling," and a "slap in the face to U.S. workers and industries that are harmed by China’s predatory trade practices."
