Commerce revises antidumping, countervailing duties on Chinese tires

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Commerce has revised antidumping and countervailing duties on some passenger and light truck tires imported from China, in many cases lowering the rates that were issued in June of 2015.

The agency’s most recent final determinations, which were issued March 12 but had not been published in the Federal Register as of March 15, completed the preliminary determination published in FR on Sept. 7.

The administrative reviews covered antidumping duties levied on Chinese PLT tires from Jan. 27, 2015 through July 31, 2016, and countervailing duties against the same tires between Dec. 1, 2014 and Dec. 31, 2015.

Antidumping duties issued in 2015 ranged from 14.54 to 87.99 percent.

In the antidumping duty review, Commerce determined that Giti Tire Global Trading Co. Pte. Ltd. and its affiliates sold tires at less than fair value during the period under investigation.

So did Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd. and its affiliates, the agency said.

Commerce assessed countervailing duties of 1.5 percent against Giti and its affiliates and 4.41 percent against Sentury and its affiliates.

Against more than 60 other importers, including Kumho Tire Co. Inc. and Triangle Tyre Co. Ltd., the agency found weighted-average dumping margins of 2.96 percent.

All of these importers qualified for “separate rate” treatment, meaning that they could prove the absence of both de facto and de jure government control over their export activities.

Commerce found another 32 importers, including Pirelli Tyre Co. Ltd., Qingdao Nexen Tire Corp. and Toyo Tire (Zhangjiagang) Co. Ltd., did not qualify for separate rate treatment, and assessed antidumping duties of 76.46 percent.

In the countervailing duty review, Commerce reviewed the subsidy rates of Giti and its affiliates, as well as those of Cooper (Kunshan) Tire Co. Ltd. The agency also determined that Zhongce Rubber Group Co. Ltd. (Zhongce) received subsidies during the period of review.

Commerce levied countervailing duties of 20.68 percent against Giti and its affiliates, 16.16 percent against Cooper and 119.46 percent against Zhongce. Other companies under review received a countervailing duty rate of 19.13 percent.

The agency will direct Customs & Border Protection to collect duties of these amounts from the tire importers going forward. It will also direct CBP to issue retroactive refunds to those whose duty rates were lowered, and bill those whose duties were increased.

For countervailing duties, the rates were 36.79 percent for Giti, 20.73 percent for Cooper, 100.37 percent for Shandong Yongsheng Rubber Group Co. Ltd., and 30.61 percent for all others.