There have been some changes to the tariffs charges on off-the-road tires imported from India and Sri Lanka.

The Department of Commerce has dropped the tariff on tires from the Alliance Tire Group from 4.9 percent to 4.72 percent after acknowledging it had made mistakes calculating the tariff amount. The rate for all other tires will drop from 5.06 percent to 4.94 percent.

Earlier this month the Department of Commerce announced countervailing duties on OTR tires from India and Sri Lanka and an anti-dumping duty on OTR tires from India, publishing them on the Federal Register.

Issuing those orders was the last step in investigations into the OTR tire imports, which started early last year following the filing of petitions from Titan and the United Steelworkers.

In February the U.S. International Trade Commission determined, by unanimous vote, that the domestic industry producing certain OTR tires had been materially injured by subsidized imports from India and Sri Lanka and “dumped” imports from India.

All imports from India and Sri Lanka of certain OTR tires are covered by the countervailing orders and all imports from India of such OTR tires, other than imports from BKT (Balkrishna Industries Ltd.), are also covered by the anti-dumping order.

Titan welcomes OTR tariffs

Titan chairman Maurice Taylor thanked the agencies for their “diligence” throughout the investigations.

“On behalf of our shareholders and workers, we are pleased that the U.S. government's investigations have confirmed that our industry has been materially injured by certain imports from India and Sri Lanka that were found to have been subsidized and/or dumped.

“Imposition of the orders is an important step in restoring conditions of fair trade. We believe that the level of subsidization may be larger than was found in the original investigation, and we plan to monitor developments in both countries to evaluate whether the full measure of unfair trade is offset through the issuance of the orders and any subsequent administrative reviews.”

The orders cover OTR tires for agriculture, industrial, construction, and mining applications. They cover OTR tires whether they enter the U.S. mounted on wheels or unmounted, though only the tire is covered.

Tagged: Countervailing duties

Here’s the deal: Duties on Indian OTR imports