Titan, USW file new petitions on imported OTR tires

WASHINGTON—Titan International Inc. and the United Steelworkers union have filed petitions with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce, seeking relief from imports of off-the-road tires from China, India and Sri Lanka.

Titan and the USW claim the OTR imports from China and India are being dumped in the U.S. market, and that importers from all three countries are benefiting from government subsidies.

In 2007, Titan and the USW filed petitions with the ITC and Commerce, requesting antidumping and countervailing duties against OTR tire imports from China. The government granted those duties the following year, and renewed them early in 2014 after a routine five-year review.

Besides the inclusion of Indian and Sri Lankan imports, the new petitions differ from the previous ones in that they include tires mounted on wheels as well as unmounted tires. The petitions cover OTR tires for agriculture, industry, construction, mining and industrial applications, Titan and the USW said.

“Unfortunately, this is the second time we have had to file a case against dumped and subsidized imports of OTR tires,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard in a news release.

“The first time we were successful, but Chinese producers and importers appear to be gaming the system to avoid the duties they owe,” Gerard said. “And now, subsidized producers in India and Sri Lanka have stepped in to get their own piece of the U.S. market.”

“Too many domestic industries have been overwhelmed with unfair trade practices that capture sales of U.S. companies,” said Titan CEO and Chairman Maurice “Morry” Taylor.

“Titan has been fighting for the last eight years to safeguard the rights of U.S. producers of certain OTR tires and their workers,” Taylor said. “This case represents a significant effort by our company to restore conditions of fair trade to the U.S. market for OTR tires.”

Titan and the USW said they expect preliminary determinations of material injury by summer 2016 and final determinations by early 2017.