WASHINGTON—The International Trade Commission has voted 4-1 to uphold the imposition of antidumping duties on consumer tires from South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, but terminated the investigation into dumping from Vietnam.
The Commission also affirmed the imposition of countervailing duties on said imports from Vietnam.
The decision cements elevated import duties on nearly $4 billion in imports from the four nations, as determined earlier by the U.S. Commerce Department, which based its earlier ruling on its belief that such tires "are being, or are likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value."
The investigation—which was carried out in response to a petition from the United Steelworkers in May 2020—covered the period from April 1, 2019, through March 31, 2020.
The final rates published by Commerce are:
- In South Korea—Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd., 27.05 percent; Nexen Tire Corp., 14.72 percent; "all others" 21.74 percent.
- In Taiwan—Cheng Shin Rubber Industry Co. Ltd./Maxxis International, 20.04 percent; Nankang Rubber Industry Co. Ltd., 101.84 percent; "all others," 84.75 percent.
- In Thailand—Sumitomo Rubber (Thailand) Co. Ltd., 14.62 percent; LLIT (Thailand) Co. Ltd. (Linglong), 21.09 percent; "all others," 17.08 percent;
- In addition, Sailun Vietnam and Kumho Tire Vietnam were assessed countervailing duties of 6.23 percent and 7.89 percent, respectively. All other companies were assessed a countervailing duty of 6.46 percent.
Importers/distributors of the targeted P/LT tires have been paying duties on tires they import since January, after Commerce ruled preliminarily in favor of continuing the investigation.
P/LT tire imports from the targeted nations totaled 85.4 million units in 2020, according to U.S. Commerce Department data.
The USW represents approximately 12,000 workers at eight consumer tire factories in the U.S., operated by Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (Findlay, Ohio, and Texarkana, Ark.); Goodyear (Fayetteville, N.C., and Topeka, Kan.); Michelin North America Inc. (Fort Wayne, Ind., and Tuscaloosa, Ala.); Sumitomo Rubber North America (Tonawanda, N.Y.); and Yokohama Tire Corp. (Salem, Va.)
There are 16 other non-union tire plants in the U.S. producing P/LT tires, with roughly 20,000 workers.