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USW Calls Affirmative Preliminary Anti-Subsidy Duty
‘Proper Redress’ for Unfair Trade on OTR Tires from China
For Immediate Release December 11, 2007
Washington, D.C. -- The United Steelworkers (USW) welcomed the U.S. Department of Commerce’s decision to impose preliminary countervailing duties on new pneumatic off-the-road (OTR) tires from China as benefiting from government subsidies.
“Yesterday’s decision is just one step towards holding producers in China to the same standards as everyone else in the global economy,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “U.S. workers have paid the price for China’s unfair government subsidies for too long. Today’s decision can help redress the unfair advantage that Chinese producers enjoy due to government subsidies in China.”
The Commerce Department preliminarily found that OTR tire producers in China benefit from subsidies including loans from government-owned banks, tax breaks, government grants, and access to low-cost rubber and land. The Department found subsidy margins for Chinese tire producers ranging from 2.38 to 6.59 percent.
“The USW will continue to be engaged with this investigation to ensure final margins accurately reflect the full scope of subsidies occurring in China,” said Gerard. “We’ll be pushing China and its tire producers to cooperate with the investigation and provide complete and accurate information on their subsidy programs.”
“In addition, we will advocate for the Commerce Department to use the full scope of its authority to counteract subsidies in China.” Gerard added. “There is absolutely no basis for unilaterally weakening our countervailing duty law in cases involving China, especially since the application of that law to China has been so long overdue.”
The USW estimates it represents 70 percent of the domestic OTR tire makers with workers employed at Titan production plants employing about 1,355 workers in Des Moines, Iowa; Freeport, Ill.; and Bryan, Ohio; plus a total of about 4,215 employed at tire plants of Bridgestone-Firestone in Des Moines and Bloomington, Ill.; Denman Tire in Leavittsburg, Ohio; and Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Topeka, Kan., and Buffalo.
The investigation was initiated in response to a petition filed jointly by the USW and Titan International Inc. in June 2007, and the preliminary determination in a companion antidumping investigation on OTR tires from China is due in February of 2008. Since 2004, imports of OTR tires from China have risen sharply, while domestic production and employment in the OTR tire industry have fallen.
Contact: Gary Hubbard, 202-778-4384; 202-256-8125
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DISTRICT 7
