USW, Titan draw split decision from ITC

WASHINGTON—Titan Tire Corp. and the United Steelworkers union received a split decision at the U.S. International Trade Commission in their second joint petition in less than a decade regarding Asian off-the-road tire imports.

On Feb. 19, the commission voted 6-0 that there was reasonable indication of material injury against the U.S. OTR tire industry because of imports of mounted and unmounted OTR tires from India and Sri Lanka.

At the same time, however, the ITC voted 6-0 that imports of mounted OTR tires from China are negligible.

This means that the investigation against OTR tires from China is terminated, but the investigation against OTR tires from India and Sri Lanka continues.

Titan and the USW filed their petition Jan. 8, seeking countervailing and antidumping duties against mounted Chinese OTR tires and both mounted and unmounted OTR tires from India and Sri Lanka.

Unmounted tires from China—against which Titan and the USW won high countervailing and antidumping duties in 2008—were excluded from the petitions. (The ITC and the Commerce Department renewed the duties in 2014 after a routine review.)

Commerce initiated antidumping and countervailing investigations against China and India and a countervailing duty investigation against Sri Lanka Jan. 29, the same day the ITC held a preliminary hearing on the issue.

In the fact sheet it issued Feb. 4, Commerce said it found dumping margins of 11.2 to 77.69 percent on the Chinese tires and 10.77 to 76.45 percent on the Indian tires.

Estimated subsidies for all three countries were above de minimis, which Commerce defines as less than 1 percent for developed countries and less than 2 percent for developing countries.

In a Feb. 22 statement, USW International President Leo W. Gerard said he was generally pleased with the ITC's Feb. 19 decision on OTR tires.

“The commission vote puts USW-represented workers one step closer to the relief they need from unfairly traded off-the-road tires,” Gerard said.

“Countries around the world are dumping and subsidizing their products to take advantage of our market, forcing us to fight unfair trade after injury has already been inflicted,” he said.

Although Gerard said he was disappointed that the ITC ruled against pursuing an investigation against China, he also noted that the duties against unmounted Chinese tires continue.

In a Feb. 24 release, Maurice Taylor Jr., Titan chairman and CEO, also expressed disappointment that the ITC did not choose to pursue an investigation against mounted Chinese OTR tires.

Taylor said the company would review the ITC's full decision when it becomes available and consider what actions, if any, it could take in response.

At the same time, he said he was gratified that the commission found evidence of material injury caused by Indian and Sri Lankan imports.

“Our company and workers, and the industry in general, has been under attack by what we believe are unfairly traded imports from these countries,” Taylor said.

“While the investigation process is time-consuming, we are confident that our government will conduct a thorough investigation and determine the extent of the unfair trade practices that are harming Titan, its workers and other companies in the industry,” he said.

In a release issued Feb. 15, four days before the ITC vote, Taylor said he would seek all legal avenues to fight OTR tire imports from all three countries.

“There are already duties on Chinese tire manufacturers, but they have put a steel wheel in the tire so it's not classified a tire,” he said.

“The joke about this is that there is a duty on steel now, but by assembling the steel wheel with the tire, there is no duty on the assembly. As presidential candidate (Donald) Trump would say, this is stupid.”

Titan has contacted its lawyers to review current federal laws to see if it is possible to seek civil relief against importers of tires that are mounted on steel wheel assemblies, Taylor said.

Meanwhile, Commerce is scheduled to issue its preliminary countervailing duty findings against Sri Lanka and India on or about April 4.

Its preliminary antidumping duty findings against India are expected on or about June 16.