US union files dumping petition against tire imports from Thailand

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – The United Steelworkers (USW) has filed an anti-dumping petition on truck and bus tires from Thailand, the US trade union has announced.

The petition filed with the US department of commerce and the international trade commission claims that truck & bus tire imports from Thailand have increased fuelled by a surge in Chinese investments.

According to the trade union, Chinese tire makers doubled their investment in the southeast Asian country over a two-year period between the years 2020 and 2022.

The petition alleges that dumping margins as high as 47.8% for such tires have enabled imports to “undercut domestic producers and imperil US jobs.”

“Antidumping and countervailing duties on truck and bus tires imposed in 2019 have been essential in stemming the tide of unfairly traded tires from China,” said USW international president David McCall.

Now, he added, Chinese companies are investing in their Thai operations, “once again capturing [US] market-share and depressing prices.”

McCall also called for “strategy reform” in the US trade system to safeguard local industry, so that USW would not have to “wage this fight on a case-by-case basis.”

Also commenting, USW’s chair of rubber and plastics industry conference Kevin Johnsen, said US workers could “compete with anyone as long as they have a level playing field”.

USW represents workers at five truck and bus tire plants, those of: Bridgestone in La Vergne and Morrison, Tennessee; Goodyear’s in Danville, Virginia, and Topeka, Kansas; and Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ unit in Buffalo, New York.