Hare Welcomes Decision To Grant Relief To U.S. Producers Of Off-The-Road Tires From Unfair Imports From China
Press Release
Hare Welcomes Decision To Grant Relief To U.S. Producers Of Off-The-Road Tires From Unfair Imports From China
Congressman Phil Hare applauded today's decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that imports of certain off-the-road (OTR) tires from China have caused material injury to the domestic OTR tire industry. The U.S. OTR tire industry includes products for farm, mining and construction vehicles. Titan Tire International and the United Steelworkers (USW), who represent Titan workers, together filed petitions against the surging imports of OTR tires from China in June 2007.
"I am very pleased that Titan Tire International and the Steelworkers prevailed in this case and were able to stop the export of dumped and government subsidized tires from China," Hare said. "The ITC's determination today provides a very good example of our country's trade remedy laws operating as Congress intended. It is good to know that when Chinese or exports from any nation cause economic injury to U.S. companies and workers, there are tools to address that harm and restore fairness to the U.S. marketplace."
"This is an especially important decision for the people of the 17th District of Illinois, since Titan International is headquartered in Quincy," Hare continued. "Today's decision reaffirms to the men and women working for Titan that our government can help combat unfair trade in the OTR industry. If you give American workers a level playing field, they can compete successfully with anyone in the world."
As a result of today's decision, the U.S. Department of Commerce will shortly issue final antidumping and countervailing duty orders on Chinese imports and will require importers to post duties equal to the amount of dumping and subsidization found for individual Chinese companies. On July 8, Hare testified before the International Trade Commission in support of Titan and the USW's petition.
"No one can expect American companies and workers to compete against products that are being dumped into the U.S. market with the additional benefit of Chinese government subsidies," Hare said. "Until Titan and the Steelworkers brought this case, U.S. jobs were declining in the industry and Chinese exports were surging. After the Department of Commerce imposed preliminary duties late last year, Chinese imports fell off and things began to turn around for the industry. Production, shipments and jobs are all back up. That's very good news for the industry's workers, particularly when you consider these are difficult times economically for the country as a whole. Today's decision will help build on that success."
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