According to the China Rubber Industry Association, the US International Trade Commission has launched an anti-dumping and countervailing investigation on the sedan and light truck tires exported from China to the United States (hereinafter referred to as the “double-reverse investigationâ€). It is expected that the US Department of Commerce will decide whether to accept the case on June 23. Efficient Tungsten Carbide Pump,Long Lifespan Submersible Pump,Durable Submersible Electric Pump Zigong MT Cemented Carbide Tech Co., Ltd. , https://www.mtcarbide.com
In order to respond in time, on June 10, China Minmetals Chemicals Import and Export Chamber of Commerce and China Rubber Industry Association held a meeting on this case to study the response strategy.
Prepare again
On June 3, the United States Steel Workers' Federation (USW) filed an application on behalf of the US domestic industry to the US International Trade Commission (USITC) and the US Department of Commerce (USDOC) to launch a double-reverse campaign on Chinese and American cars and light truck tires. Investigate and take "double-reverse" measures.
A person in charge of the tire company attending the meeting introduced that about 50 tire companies attended the meeting. At present, domestic lawyers have been entrusted to carry out relevant legal measures.
According to US Customs statistics, China’s exports of tires to the US in 2013 amounted to US$2.078 billion in 2013, and exports in the first quarter of this year were US$510 million. If the United States adopts "double-reverse" measures on China's exports of tires, it will have a major impact on Chinese tire companies.
On April 29, 2009, the US International Trade Commission issued an announcement in the Federal Register to determine the special safeguard measures for Chinese consumer tires (hereinafter referred to as the “special insurance investigationâ€) according to the US Section 421.
Zhou Shizhen, executive director of the China Institute of International Trade, recently said in an interview with the media that the double-reverse investigation was completely different from the situation in 2009. At that time, the financial crisis caused the US economy to decline, and the automobile industry also fell to the bottom. In 2009, the special insurance investigation was to a certain extent to protect the local car tire companies from the impact of imported tires. Now that the US economy is beginning to “recoverâ€, the sales volume of the US auto industry has also rebounded sharply.
On June 3, data released by the three major US automakers showed that sales of Chrysler, General Motors and Ford increased in May compared to the same period last year. Among them, Chrysler sold 194,400 vehicles, which was the best sales performance since 2007.
At a time when the US auto industry is booming, the U.S. Steel Workers’ Federation has filed a double-reverse investigation application. International trade experts believe that this move is intended to establish trade barriers to China.
Positive response
Zhang Yi, member of the WTO and the Anti-Dumping Professional Committee of the Beijing Bar Association, said that the US “Double Counter-Investigation†is under the responsibility of the US International Trade Commission (USITC) and the US Department of Commerce (USDOC). The US International Trade Commission is mainly responsible for investigating the products of the companies involved. Whether it is causing damage to the US industry, the US Department of Commerce is mainly responsible for investigating whether there are dumping and subsidies.
"As long as the US International Trade Commission launches a double-reverse, in most cases, the US Department of Commerce will conduct an investigation." Zhang Yi said.
Zhang Yi, who has represented many double-reverse investigations, believes that if the United States makes a ruling and confirms that there are “dumping and subsidies†on the tires exported by Chinese companies, it will inevitably bring huge losses to domestic tire companies, and will also affect upstream and downstream industries. A person in charge of a Shandong tire company said that if the US tariffs on imported tires increase by 10%, the company will have no profit or even a loss.
In September 2009, the US government decided to impose a tariff on Chinese tires, that is, punitive tariffs will be imposed on tires imported from China in the next three years, that is, 35% and 30% respectively on the basis of 4% of the original tariffs. And 25% additional tariffs.
Previously, the United States was an important overseas market in China, with nearly one-third of its tires sold to the United States. At the peak of China's car and light truck tire exports amounted to nearly 2.2 billion US dollars, affected by the tire special protection case, China's exports of such products to the United States fell sharply, in 2011, the US car tire exports amounted to only 968 million US dollars, down more than half .
Lawyer Zhang Yi believes that Chinese tire companies and industry associations need to hold a group to actively respond to the lawsuit and do a good job in response.
He suggested that the "collective defense + individual defense" model can be adopted in response to the double-reverse investigation. A separate dumping defense of a company, if successful, can only enable the defending enterprise to obtain a separate dumping tax rate, and the industry-wide no damage and causality defense, once won the case, can obtain the best dumping tax rate for the whole industry.
Zhang Yi said, "The way to respond to this lawsuit is to reduce the risk and increase the chances of winning the case. Because once the collective defense fails, the company can also take a separate dumping defense. And based on past experience, the collective defense can increase the enterprise. The chance of winning a separate defense.