ITC rules U.S. industry 'materially injured'

WASHINGTON (Aug. 21, 2014) — The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has determined that “there is a reasonable indication” that the U.S. tire industry has been “materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of imports from China of certain passenger vehicle and light truck tires.”

The finding means the ITC is moving forward with the final phase of its investigations, which likely will lead to the imposition of countervailing and/or anti-dumping duties against Chinese imports in general and/or individual Chinese tire makers.

The Commission will issue a final phase notice of scheduling once the Department of Commerce has issued its findings into the nature and extent of  tires “alleged to be sold in the U.S. at less than fair value and are allegedly subsidized by the Government of China.”

The ITC reached its decision Aug. 15, but the decision was not made public until today, as published in the Federal Register.

The document shows Vice Chairman Dean Pinkert and Commissioners Irving Williamson and Rhonda Schmidtlein determined “there is a reasonable indication that an industry in the U.S. is materially injured by reason of imports of certain passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China,” and that Chairman Meredith Broadbent and Commissioners David Johanson and F. Scott Kieff determined “there is a reasonable indication that an industry in the U.S. is threatened with material injury by reason of imports of certain passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China.”

The ITC said in its notice that interested parties — “Industrial users, and, if the merchandise under investigation is sold at the retail level, representative consumer organizations” — have the right to appear as parties in Commission antidumping and countervailing duty investigations.

The Secretary of Commerce will prepare a public service list containing the names and addresses of all persons, or their representatives, who are parties to the investigations, the ITC notice said. Parties that filed entries of appearance in the preliminary phase of the investigations need not enter a separate appearance for the final phase of the investigations.

The investigation stems from a petition filed June 3 by United Steel Workers union, which alleged that the U.S. tire industry is materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of less-than-fair-value and subsidized imports of certain passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China