US union seeks duties on Chinese truck, bus tires

Washington —The United Steelworkers union has filed a petition with the International Trade Commission, seeking import duties on truck and bus tires from China.

The union, which sought and won import duties in 2014 on passenger and light truck tires from China, filed the petition on Jan. 29, requesting the ITC “conduct an investigation under sections 701 and 731 of the Tariff Act of 1930 regarding the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of truck and bus tires from China."

Details of the USW’s petition are as yet not published.

However, it is known that China is by far the No. 1 source of imported medium truck and bus tires, accounting for nearly 62 percent of the 7.07 million truck tires imported in the first half of 2015.

Imports from China during the January-June period rose 17.2 percent and were on pace to hit or exceed 9 million units for the entire year.

In 2014, truck and bus tires imports from China topped out at 8.38 million, equal to nearly half of the US replacement market, based on a comparison of US Commerce Department and Rubber Manufacturers Association data.

The USW, together with Titan Tire Corp., also are seeking relief from imports of off-the-road tires from China, India and Sri Lanka.

They are claiming that OTR tire imports from China and India are being dumped in the US market, and that importers from all three countries are benefiting from government subsidies.