Officials from the United Steel Workers (USW) plan to push for tariffs on Chinese tire imports at an Aug. 7 public hearing before U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
It is the latest step in a case being pursued by the USW. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has already determined that surging low cost consumer tire imports from China have damaged the domestic industry with lost jobs and factory shutdowns.
The commissioners unanimously recommended that tariffs be placed across the board on car and light truck tires from China – 55 percent in year one, 45 percent in year two and 35 percent in year three.
The USW wants the inaugural figure to be raised above the proposed 55 percent duty.
President Barack Obama will make the final decision on how to proceed.
"We are urging a higher tariff in the first year so U.S. tire workers get the full relief intended to prevent the undermining of any frontloading of inventories by importers or Chinese exporters who are dumping higher volumes of imports prior to the Sept. 17, 2009 decision deadline by the President,” explains USW President Leo W. Gerard. “Undermining the ability of the proposed remedy to correct market disruption in the first year is unacceptable.”
Gerard says that “our nation’s job loss numbers at tire factories dramatically understate the impact China’s flooding imports have caused in the communities where our represented workers live. The consequences of lost tire production jobs have extended to many thousands of other jobs in supporting industries and suppliers that have also been lost.”
Chinese tire imports from 2004 to 2008 increased 215 percent by volume. Chinese tire producers are projecting that exports to the U.S. in 2009-2010 would be up an additional eight million tires from the 46 million tires imported last year, according to Gerard.
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USW data from the ’04 to ’08 shows that the domestic tire industry “has suffered massive injury.” Gerard says capacity by the tire companies is down 17.8 percent and production is down by 26.6 percent. Employment has been cut by 14.2 percent along with reductions in hours worked and wages paid. Net domestic sales were down 28 percent.
For more information, visit www.usw.org.
