Titan, USW pursue duties on OTR tires from Asia

WASHINGTON—For the second time in less than a decade, Titan Tire International and the United Steelworkers union have united to seek relief from what they say are heavily subsidized, unfairly underpriced off-the-road tire imports.

Titan and the USW sent petitions Jan. 8 to the International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration, formally requesting investigations of imported OTR tires from China, India and Sri Lanka under Sections 701 and 731 of the Trade Act.

The ITC has scheduled a conference on Jan. 29 to hear oral presentations by advocates and opponents of antidumping and countervailing duties against the imported OTR tires.

The previous joint Titan-USW petition was in 2007, when the Quincy, Ill.-based OTR tire manufacturer and the Pittsburgh-based union asked Commerce and the ITC for antidumping and countervailing duties against Chinese OTR imports.

The agencies granted those duties in 2008 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 new petitions cover OTR tires for agriculture, construction, mining and industrial applications, according to Titan and the USW.

B.K. Bansal, director of finance for Mumbai, India-based tire maker Balk-rishna Industries Ltd. (BKT), said his company will cooperate fully with the ITC and Commerce during the investigation.

BKT is confident that once all the facts are gathered, the agencies will find BKT in compliance with U.S. trade regulations, and that the accusations against it are without merit, Bansal said.

Other manufacturers and/or importers either declined comment or did not reply to questions seeking comment.

Titan and the USW, however, said the threat of dumped and subsidized OTR tires in the U.S. market only has expanded since 2008.

“Unfortunately, this is the second time we have had to file a case against dumped and subsidized imports of OTR tires,” USW International President Leo W. Gerard said Jan. 8.

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

Maurice Taylor Jr., Titan chairman and CEO, seconded Gerard's concerns.

“Too many domestic industries have been overwhelmed with unfair trade practices that capture sales of U.S. companies,” he said. “Titan has been fighting for the last eight years to safeguard the rights of U.S. producers of certain OTR tires and their workers. 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 and final determinations by early 2017. The USW represents workers producing OTR tires at Titan, Bridgestone Americas Inc. and Goodyear, with pacts covering six plants in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Ohio.

“(This) action is essential to protecting these jobs from further erosion,” said USW District Director Mike Millsap, who chairs the union's Titan Tire negotiating committee. “Rising volumes of unfairly traded imports are driving down prices and harming domestic producers and workers. This is exactly the situation our trade remedy laws were designed to redress.”

According to the ITC's statement on the case, the commission must reach preliminary determinations in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations by Feb. 22 and make that decision public no later than Feb. 29, unless the Department of Commerce extends the time for initiation.

Since the previous petitions on OTR tires, the USW twice has won relief against Chinese passenger and light truck tire importers.

Between September 2009 and September 2012, the Obama administration levied high tariffs against Chinese tire importers under Section 421 of the Trade Act, which protects industries injured by upsurges in Chinese imports.

Chinese OTR tire importers have made several challenges against the 2008 tariffs. In April 2015, China Manufacturers Alliance L.L.C. said it would appeal a 105.3 percent antidumping duty determination against OTR tires sold under the Double Coin brand.

Also, Chinese OTR tire makers challenged in federal court a 2012 law allowing the U.S. to levy countervailing duties against goods from China and other non-market economies.

The Jan. 29 conference will be held at ITC headquarters in Washington.

Advocates and opponents of antidumping and countervailing duties against the imported OTR tires will each be given one hour collectively to make presentations before the commission. Non-parties may also request to make short presentations.