U.S. probing tire imports from South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam (updated)

Yokohama Rubber Co

24/06/2020 24:01

(Adds more details, background)
    By David Shepardson and Eric Beech
    WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department
said on Tuesday it had opened  investigations into vehicle tire
imports from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam to
determine whether the tires are being sold at less than fair
value.
    The department said it was also investigating whether tire
producers in Vietnam were receiving unfair subsidies for
passenger vehicle and light truck (PVLT) tires.
    The investigations were in response to petitions filed in
May by the United Steelworkers (USW) representing workers at
U.S. tire plants.
    "Even though demand for PVLT tires increased, domestic
producers were still forced to grapple with reduced market
share, falling profits and lost jobs," USW International
President Tom Conway said earlier.
    The union won orders on imported vehicle tires from China in
2015, and Chinese imports have since shrunk dramatically,
allowing the domestic industry to invest in new capacity, the
union said.
    The United States imported almost $4 billion in tires from
the four nations, including nearly $2 billion from Thailand and
$1.2 billion from Korea, in 2019. The USW said tire imports from
the four countries have risen nearly 20% since 2017, reaching
85.3 million tires.
    The Commerce Department said the alleged dumping margins
range from 43% to 195% for Korea, 21% to 116% for Taiwan, 106%
to 217.5% for Thailand and 5% to 22% for Vietnam.
    The USW represents workers at Michelin  MICP.PA , Goodyear
 GT.O , Cooper  CTB.N , Sumitomo  8053.T  and Yokohama  5101.T 
tire plants in Ohio, Arkansas, North Carolina, Kansas, Indiana,
Virginia New York and Alabama. 
    This month, Hankook Tires  161390.KS  urged the Commerce
Department not to investigate, saying the U.S. domestic tire
industry "is in robust health and growing." In a filing it said,
domestic vehicle tire producers "as a whole have not been
materially injured and are not threatened with material injury
by reason of subject imports."
    Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade told Commerce its
economy is "heavily dependent on light vehicles and passenger
cars for transportation, logistics and travel and the PVLT tire
industry is crucial for our continued economic advancement."

 (Reporting by Eric Beech and David Shepardson; Editing by
Mohammad Zargham and Tom Brown)
 ((eric.beech@thomsonreuters.com; 202-898-8322; Reuters
Messaging: eric.beech.reuters.com@reuters.net))