WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Commerce has been given the go-ahead to issue elevated duties on imports of truck and bus tires from Thailand.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) determined the antidumping claims against Thailand tire suppliers were valid.
The ITC approval allows Commerce to issue the order to elevate duties.
On Nov. 8, the ITC determined "a U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of imports of truck and bus tires from Thailand that the U.S. Department of Commerce has determined are sold in the United States at less than fair value."
In October, Commerce issued its final import duties on truck and bus tires from Thailand — at rates measurably higher than earlier forecast.
In a ruling issued Oct. 16, it set duties at 48.39% for Bridgestone Corp., and 12.33% for all others.
Earlier the ITC had determined that Thai tire makers — other than Prinx Chengshan Tire (Thailand) Co. Ltd., which initially received no additional duties — would be subject to an antidumping duty of 2.35%.
The Commission's public report Truck and Bus Tires from Thailand (USITC Publication 5562, November 2024) will be available by Dec. 23 on the ITC website.
Commerce's investigation into the matter was prompted by petition filed by the United Steelworkers in October 2023, in which the union alleged dumping margins as high as 47.8% that allowed imports to undercut domestic producers and imperil U.S. jobs.
Imports of truck/bus tires from Thailand in 2023 were down 30.5% from 2022 but still exceeded 7 million units, or nearly 42% of all truck/bus tire imports. That downward trend reversed itself in the first half of 2024, as truck/bus tire imports from Thailand jumped 32.4% to 4.23 million units.
Commerce has not announced a timeline for issuing the duties.
