Contact: Jess Kamm Broomell, 412-562-2444, jkamm@usw.org
(Pittsburgh) – The United Steelworkers union (USW) and Titan International, Inc., today called for restrictions on downstream products made from Russian petroleum inputs, citing in particular concerns over imports of off-the-road (OTR) tires from India.
“The United States and its allies rightly issued sanctions against Russian petroleum after Putin’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine,” said USW International President Tom Conway. “But Russia and Russian producers managed to find ways to utilize producers in third-party countries to continue profiting from exports.
“This not only hurts our Ukrainian allies and prolongs the war, but also undercuts domestic industries as third-country producers leverage access to cheap Russian petroleum inputs to drive down prices on products like tires they export to the United States.”
India was not among the nations to ban imports of Russian oil products, like the carbon black needed for OTR tires, and it now functions as one of Russia’s top export destinations. Russia is also India’s top source for oil imports.
At the same time, exports of Indian OTR tires to the United States jumped by nearly 38 percent compared to the same period in 2021.
“We owe it to workers in both Ukraine and the United States to close this loophole and starve Russia’s war effort once and for all,” Conway said.
The USW represents 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations.