Titan, US union call for restrictions on ‘Russia-linked’ tires from India

Chicago, Illinois – US off-the-road (OTR) tire maker Titan Int. and the United Steelworkers (USW) union have called for import restrictions on competitive products from India due to their links to Russia.

In a 27 Feb letter to US president Biden, Titan president and CEO Paul Reitz said the imports of Indian OTR tires to the US had increased by nearly 38% year-on-year in 2022.

According to the statement, issued jointly with the USW, the uptick was a direct result of an Indian government's decision not to ban the imports of Russian oil products.

These products, noted the Titan leader, include materials such as carbon black “which is a key ingredient in the production of OTR tires.”

Last year, a new threat had emerged from Indian producers: their ability to leverage access to “cheap, sanctioned Russian petroleum products to drive down tire prices,” said Reitz.

“Thus, a country that is able to access plentiful supplies of low-priced oil will have a significant advantage in the market for OTR tires,” he argued.

India, continued the letter, ramped up imports of Russian oil over the past year, to over a million barrels a day – 33% higher than in 2021.

During the same period, it said, Indian exports of OTR tires to the US have grown by 37.6% year-on-year.

“Access to plentiful quantities of low-priced Russian oil has artificially lowered the costs of production for our Indian competitors and spurred a harmful flood of OTR tire imports,” Reitz commented.

Claiming that India’s practice “directly harms US producers and workers,” he called for "intensified efforts to bring light to and close loopholes in the issued sanctions to Russia.”