WASHINGTON—The Commerce Department's International Trade Administration has ordered antidumping duties of 112.47 percent against off-the-road tires manufactured by Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. Ltd.
The duties cover HZ OTR tires imported into the U.S. between Sept. 1, 2010 and Aug. 31, 2011, according to the notice in the April 16 Federal Register.
Commerce's ruling was part of a routine review of antidumping duties on OTR tires from China. The agency published preliminary results of the review in the Federal Register in October 2012.
Representatives of HZ in the U.S. could not be reached for comment.
Chinese OTR tires have been a subject of attention in the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission since 2007, when the United Steelworkers and Titan Tire Corp. complained to the ITC. The agency found Chinese OTR tire sales in the U.S. were causing material injury to U.S. tire makers. Later, Commerce levied duties of up to 210 percent.
Importer GPX International Tire Co. sued Commerce, and in December 2011 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that the Tariff Act of 1930 doesn't allow Commerce to levy countervailing duties against products from non-market-economy countries.
The court decision led Congress to pass a bill allowing Commerce to levy countervailing duties against products from China and other NME countries. President Obama signed the bill in March 2012.