WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Commerce has made minor downward revisions in countervailing duties on three companies exporting Chinese passenger and light truck tires to the U.S. after finding errors in its earlier calculations.
The minor revisions affect countervailing duty rates for a period of review from Dec. 1, 2014, to Dec. 31, 2015. on three companies: GITI Tire Global Trading Pte. Ltd. (and several allied firms), Cooper (Kunshan) Tire Co. Ltd., and Zhongce Rubber Group Co. Ltd.
On March 28, GITI filed a petition with Commerce, claiming the agency made ministerial errors in calculating the duties. Specifically, GITI said Commerce had miscalculated the sales denominator for GITI Tire Global Investment; miscalculated government grants to GITI and others; and misapplied the Adverse Facts Available Rate to the Export Buyer's Credits program.
Commerce found that it had committed those errors and announced May 2 in the Federal Register the following revised rates:
• GITI: 15.75 percent vs. 20.68 percent previously;
• Cooper: 15.1 percent vs. 16.16 percent;
• Zhongce: 114.48 percent vs. 119.46 percent; and
• Non-selected companies under review: 15.53 percent vs. 19.13 percent.
In the same notice, Commerce also corrected a clerical error in regards to Shandong Shuangwang Rubber Co. Ltd. In the March 16 notice, the agency had accidentally misspelled the company's name as "Shangong."
The notice can be found at www.gpo.gov.