Cooper, ITG Voma considering Chinese duties appeals

WASHINGTON— Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and tire importer ITG Voma Corp. have filed documents with the U.S. Court of International Trade disputing the U.S. Commerce Department's antidumping and countervailing duties findings against Chinese passenger and light truck tires.

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and its Chinese subsidiary, Cooper (Kunshan) Tire Co. Ltd. and former subsidiary Cooper Chengshan (Shandong) Tire Co. Ltd., filed summonses Sept. 8 to the U.S. Commerce and Justice epartments, stating Cooper had begun a civil action contesting various aspects of the final antidumping and countervailing duty findings issued June 18 and affirmed Aug. 10 by the Commerce Department's International Trade Commission.

The same day, Memphis, Tenn.-based ITG Voma  — importer/distributor of several brands from China, including Capitol — filed similar summonses for the same purpose.

Cooper's summonses do not constitute appeals per se, a Cooper spokeswoman said. Rather, they preserve a company's right to file an appeal should it decide later to do so, she said.

Cooper sold its ownership stake in Cooper Chengshan (Shandong) last December to China's Chengshan Group Co. Ltd.

ITG Voma is a joint venture of China's Xiamen ITG Group Corp. and VOMA Tire Corp., a full supply chain service provider, focusing on providing comprehensive services for tire distributors, according to the firm's website.

The United Steelworkers petitioned the International Trade Commission (ITC) on June 3, 2014, requesting relief against Chinese tire imports under Section 701 and 731 of the Trade Act.

The ITC's final determination of material injury in the two cases came in a 3-3 vote July 14.The countervailing duties levied by the agency range from 20.73 to 116.33 percent, while the antidumping duties range from 14.35 to 87.99 percent.