Tyres from Korea, Taiwan, Thailand are too cheap in US; anti-dumping duty ordered

In a report by Reuters, US tyre manufacturers are "materially injured" by imports of passenger vehicle and light truck tyres from Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, said the United States International Trade Commission (ITC).

Also found to injure local manufacturers are subsidized passenger tyres from Vietnam, as ITC found that imports of tyre products from Vietnam sold in the U.S. at less than fair value "are negligible and voted to terminate the antidumping duty investigation concerning Vietnam."    

As a result, the U.S. Commerce Department "will issue antidumping duty orders on imports of these products from Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, and a countervailing duty order on imports of these products from Vietnam," the ITC said.

In response to petitions filed by the United Steelworkers (USW) representing workers at U.S. tyre plants in 2020, the Commerce Department opened investigations into vehicle tyre imports from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

"We’re grateful that the ITC affirmed what USW members see every day: a deliberate effort to undercut our domestic industry and overtake our market,” USW International President Tom Conway said in a statement.

The union won orders on imported vehicle tyres from China in 2015, and Chinese imports have since shrunk dramatically, allowing the domestic industry to invest in new capacity, the union said last year.

The United States imported USD 4.4 billion in tyres from the four nations in 2020. The USW said tyre imports from the four countries had risen nearly 20% since 2017, reaching 85.3 million tyres in 2019.

Also read: A "cheap tyre” is going to kill you, here is why good tyres costs more