Titan Tire Corp. welcomed the United States Commerce Department's preliminary decision to impose antidumping duties on imports of new pneumatic OTR tires from China with open arms.
The decision "will help to restore conditions of fair trade to the U.S. market for OTR tires by requiring Chinese imports to be priced fairly," says Chairman and CEO Morry Taylor.
"For far too long, U.S. producers of OTR tires such as Titan and our workers have had to compete against Chinese tires sold at dumped prices, which is illegal. Now, importers and producers will have to compete on the same level field as other producers."
Very few end users know that the tires they buy are Chinese tires, because the tires carry English names with a very small "Made in China" nameplate, according to Taylor. “Titan will compete with anyone so long as its fair competition, but U.S. companies and their employees will lose if they must compete with government subsidies
and dumping, unless the U.S. government enforces our trade laws."
As a result of this preliminary determination, the Commerce Department will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to
collect a cash deposit or bond based on preliminary rates. The agency also will continue holding hearings and conducting verifications before reaching a final determination by early June of this year.
