US union welcomes tariffs on Chinese tires

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - The United Steelworkers union, whose petition led to the US investigation into Chinese passenger and light truck tire imports, is “gratified” that the US commerce department has determined countervailing duties are warranted.

Countervailable subsidies are defined as: “financial assistance from foreign governments that benefit the production of goods from foreign companies and are limited to specific enterprises or industries, or are contingent either upon export performance or upon the use of domestic goods over imported goods.”

“The commerce dept. is right to neutralise the negative effects of the unfair subsidies the Chinese government has granted to tire exporters,” USW president Leo Gerard said of the department’s decision.

These “illegal subsidies” have cost thousands of US tire manufacturing jobs and if left unchecked, would eliminate many thousands more jobs in the US, claimed Gerard.

“Our union is here to defend more than 28,000 tire workers from unfair trade practices,” the union leader continued. “After the safeguard relief from Chinese tires that our union had fought for expired in 2012, Chinese tires came flooding back into the US.

“[The commerce departments] decision confirms an array of massive subsidies from China helped to drive this wave of exports back into our market.”