The tariffs on light truck and passenger tires from China will stand after a required review by the International Trade Commission.
The five-member commission voted 4-1 to continue the existing anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on the tires imported from China. Such reviews are required five years after tariffs initially are imposed on products, and the ITC, along with the Department of Commerce, began their reviews of the original 2015 order in 2020. (In November the DOC also determined the tariffs should remain in place.)
As is the practice, commissioners vote but don't immediately make any other comment about their decision. They'll publish a report that will contain their views, and the information used to formulate those views, by Feb. 26, 2021.
Commissioner David Johanson voted against the measure. The other commissioners determined that revoking the existing tariffs would "likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time."
Since the tariffs were imposed in 2015, the number of tires imported into the U.S. from China has plummeted. Consumer tire imports from China reached 60.5 million in 2014. Modern Tire Dealer's latest research, published in the 2021 Facts Issue, shows Chinese consumer tire imports dropped to 2.8 million in 2020.
