Contact: Jess Kamm Broomell, 412-562-2444, jkamm@usw.org
(PITTSBURGH) – The United Steelworkers union (USW) today announced that it filed an antidumping petition on truck and bus tires from Thailand with the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission.
Truck and bus tire imports from Thailand, fueled by Chinese investments, surged in recent years, more than doubling between 2020 and 2022. The petition alleges dumping margins as high as 47.8 percent, enabling imports to undercut domestic producers and imperil U.S. jobs.
“Antidumping and countervailing duties on truck and bus tires imposed in 2019 have been essential in stemming the tide of unfairly traded tires from China,” said USW International President David McCall. “Now, we’re seeing Chinese companies invest in their Thai operations, once again capturing market share and depressing prices.”
The USW represents workers at five facilities that produce truck and bus tires: Bridgestone’s plants in La Vergne and Morrison, Tenn., Goodyear’s facilities in Danville, Va., and Topeka, Kan., and Sumitomo’s plant in Buffalo, N.Y.
“USW tire makers are among the most skilled in the world,” said Kevin Johnsen, who chairs the USW’s Rubber and Plastics Industry Conference. “They take immense pride in their work, and they can compete with anyone as long as they have a level playing field. We cannot allow illegally dumped imports to destroy their jobs or the communities they support.”
The USW has been involved in more than 100 trade cases in the past two decades, including in the rubber and tire industry.
“While we’re grateful that workers have the standing to advocate on their own behalf as we did today, we shouldn’t have to wage this fight on a case-by-case basis,” said McCall. “Instead we need strategic reform of our broken trade system so that our domestic industries can be safe from unfair trade now and into the future.”
The USW represents 850,000 workers in North America employed in many industries that include metals, mining, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, the service, public and health care sectors and higher education. For more information: www.usw.org.