The United Steelworkers (USW) has joined Titan Tire Corporation as a co-petitioner in a trade case petition filed June 18 with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission, citing
The USW and Titan Tire seek to have the government impose duties to off-set unfair Chinese imports of off-highway tires produced for use on vehicles and equipment in agricultural construction and industrial applications. According to the petition,
USW president Leo W. Gerard said, “We are seeing the predatory policies of
Steve Vanderheyden, USW Local 745 president representing workers employed at Titan Tire’s plant in
The USW estimates it represents 70 percent of the domestic OTR tire makers with workers employed at Titan production plants employing about 1,355 workers in Des Moines, Iowa; Freeport, Ill.; and Bryan, Ohio; plus a total of about 4,215 employed at tire plants of Bridgestone/Firestone in Des Moines and Bloomington, Ill.; Denman Tire in Leavittsburg, Ohio; and Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Topeka, Kan., and Buffalo, N.Y.
Under the anti-dumping and countervailing duty statutes, the Commerce Department will determine whether to initiate an investigation in 20 days. The Trade Commission will make a preliminary injury determination by the beginning of August. Commerce could issue preliminary determinations in the countervailing duty and anti-dumping duty cases in early November, but such deadlines are subject to extensions.
The USW represents 850,000 workers in the