WASHINGTON — The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will livestream the hearings on Nov. 7 pertaining to the United Steelworkers' (USW) petition calling for antidumping duties on truck/bus tire imports from Thailand, starting at 9:30 a.m.
Those wishing to view should go the ITC's website/calendar page and click on the hearing notice shown on Nov. 7.
The USW filed its antidumping petition on Oct. 17, alleging dumping margins as high as 47.8%, enabling imports to undercut domestic producers and imperil U.S. jobs, the USW said.
Truck and bus tire imports from Thailand, fueled by Chinese investments, have more than doubled in the past three years to 10.2 million units in 2022.
Imports of medium truck/bus tires overall shot up 38% last year to a record 23.9 million units. Thailand's shipments account for nearly 43% of all imports. And are over three times the number of No. 2 Vietnam, according to Tire Business analysis of the available import/export data.
A large percentage of truck/bus tires imported from Thailand are from subsidiaries of Chinese tire makers such as Double Coin, Jiangsu General Science Technology, Shandong Linglong, Prinx Chengshan, Sentury Group and ZC Rubber.
The union represents workers at five U.S. factories that produce truck and bus tires: Bridgestone Americas Inc.'s plants in La Vergne and Morrison, Tenn., Goodyear facilities in Danville, Va., and Topeka, Kan., and Sumitomo Rubber North America Inc.'s plant in Buffalo, N.Y.
None of the three tire makers has voiced support publicly of the union's action.
