ITC's upgrade of the China Tire Special Protection Case
On June 18, US time, the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) issued an affirmative damages ruling on China's special car and light truck tire protection cases. The Ministry of Commerce immediately responded on June 19th. The ITC ruling is not in conformity with the objective facts and also violates the relevant provisions of the WTO and US laws. It hopes that the United States can proceed from follow-up investigations based on the overall interests of related industries in China and the United States. No decision to take special safeguard measures.
The initial ruling of the ITC concluded that the number of passenger tires and light truck tires imported from China has greatly increased, leading to confusion in the US market for similar products or direct competition products or threats to market confusion. ITC will submit a remedial report to the U.S. President and the U.S. Trade Representative on July 9. Obama will make a decision on whether to take special protection and what protection measures will be taken within 90 days.
Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian said on June 19 that the case did not meet the statutory conditions for taking special safeguard measures. China has repeatedly stated its opposition to the foreign government's citing special safeguard clauses to investigate Chinese products. There is no direct competition between tires produced in China and similar products in the United States. Imports of Chinese products have not caused damage to the US industry. Restricting imports of Chinese products will not solve the problems faced by U.S. domestic industries.
The China Rubber Industry Association believes that this is a discriminatory approach to Chinese products, is a typical trade protectionist act, and is an abuse of special safeguard measures. The China Rubber Industry Association recommends that the Chinese government should adopt strong anti-limitation measures and further closely cooperate with the relevant parties to continue the response work and strive to get the case properly resolved. The domestic tire industry also believes that the fundamental reason for the collapse of U.S. tire manufacturing enterprises and the unemployment of workers is the current economic recession in the U.S., and the automotive industry is in a serious crisis, which ultimately leads to a rapid decline in tire demand. At the same time, users’ tightening of expenditures and the decline in purchasing power are also one of the important reasons that have seriously affected the development of US tire manufacturing. ITC now blames China on exporting tires. It is obviously unfair.
Even the preliminary results of the ITC, the United States Tire Industry Association also said it could not agree. The association issued a statement that the restrictions on the import of Chinese tires will not only help to save jobs in the U.S. manufacturing industry, but also harm the interests of consumers. The members of the association make heavy use of tire products imported from China to meet market demand. If they forcibly cut imports from China, they will only force companies to choose similar products from other countries. This is not only detrimental to U.S. manufacturing but also to U.S. consumers. And the development of the automotive industry has brought adverse effects.
View related topics: China and the United States tire special security case