The US Department of Commerce today made an affirmative preliminary determination in the antidumping duty investigation for truck and bus tires imported from China. The Commerce Department issued a fact sheet on August 29 that proposed a 20.87% preliminary dumping rate against one of the two of the mandatory respondents in the investigation, Prinx Chengshan (Shandong) Tire Co. Ltd. The other mandatory respondent, Double Coin Holdings Ltd., is not eligible for a separate rate and so is included in the China-wide entity dumping rate of 22.57%. No other Chinese tire producers or exporters responded to the Commerce Department’s requests for information and so will be subject to the 22.57% preliminary dumping rate.
Commerce began its investigation into Chinese imports of truck and bus tires on February 19, 2016, responding to petitions filed by the United Steelworkers with the International Trade Commission. The petitions sought antidumping and countervailing duties against the Chinese imports. On June 28, Commerce issued a notice that it had found preliminary affirmative evidence of government subsidies, issuing preliminary countervailing duties. Commerce’s final decision in the investigation is due on January 17, 2017.