China rubber network news on June 3, the United States Federation of steel workers (USW) formally submitted an application to the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) on behalf of the U.S. domestic industry, requesting an anti-dumping and anti subsidy investigation on Chinese cars and light truck tires exported to the United States, and taking double countermeasures. In this regard, China Rubber Industry Association expressed firm opposition on behalf of the whole industry and is organizing the whole industry to respond actively. At the same time, the China Rubber Association said that if the United States filed a case of double anti tires against China, it would resolutely require the Chinese government to take countermeasures.
The China Rubber Association believes that once the case is filed, there will be no winners but only losers in this trade friction, which will not benefit the trade between China and the United States. Because China and the United States have been interdependent in the field of tire and rubber for a long time, many American consumers highly recognize Chinese tire products, and many American tire production and trading enterprises have made a lot of profits from China's tire manufacturing industry. In case of trade friction, all parties will be implicated.
The US special tire insurance case against China is the best example. Take data as an example, the share of the US tire market in 2010 was 54% in the US and 15% in China, and 19% in 5 countries and regions, including Thailand, Korea, Indonesia, Mexico and China, and 12% of Japan and other countries accounted for 19%. During the special insurance case in 2012, the United States accounted for 56%, China decreased to 8%, Thailand and other five countries and regions increased to 20% - 22%, and Japan and other countries increased to 14% - 16%. After the special insurance, in 2014, the proportion of the United States decreased to 45%, that of five countries and regions such as Thailand accounted for 19%, that of China increased to 12%, but that of other countries such as Japan increased to 24%. Therefore, although the special insurance case prevented Chinese tires from entering the U.S. market, the United States did not benefit from it. Instead, USW created trouble and trained more competitors.
This time, USW proposed a double anti-dumping against Chinese tires, accusing the dumping margin of 60.15% and the subsidy margin of 25.73%, far exceeding the maximum tariff of the special protection case by 35%. Due to the different tariff codes between China and the United States, the amount of US imports from China in 2013 listed in the USW application is US $2077 million; According to the statistics of China's customs, the delivery value of China's products exported to the United States involved in the case was US $3.337 billion. Therefore, this is the largest amount of trade relief measures suffered by China's tire industry. Moreover, the case lasted for a long time. The special protection case lasted only three years, while the double anti case was subject to sunset review once every five years. For example, the double reverse case of the United States against China's off highway tires is a typical example. It has been seven years since the case was filed in 2007.
Industry insiders reflect that once the double anti case is established and a high tax rate of 60.15% and 25.73% is levied, the products involved in China can not be exported to the United States at all. In 2013, China produced 369 million passenger and light truck tires, of which 20.81 million were produced by American enterprises in China. Among China's tire export enterprises to the United States, the export volume of joint ventures and wholly foreign-owned enterprises accounted for 39.68%. It is understood that there are 68 enterprises producing the products involved in the case in China, including 31 domestic enterprises and 37 foreign-funded enterprises. The most affected will be 31 domestic enterprises, because foreign-funded enterprises can export to the United States through other ways. This will worsen the already competitive domestic market, and enterprises may face production reduction or shutdown. According to statistics, there are about 80000 employees engaged in the production of passenger and light truck tires in domestic enterprises alone. Each tire employee will drive the employment of personnel in 12 rubber products industries and related industries. This double reverse case will affect nearly one million workers in China's tire rubber products industry and related industries. Therefore, once the double anti investigation is established, it will be huge in terms of the amount involved, the type of industry and the impact.
Industry insiders said that the US allegation that China's passenger and light truck tires have dumping and subsidies and that "cheap Chinese tires cause workers to lose their jobs" is groundless. In recent years, American tire enterprises are building and expanding tire factories one after another. The operating rate and profits of the whole industry are good. Moreover, the products involved in China are different from the market segments of American products and do not constitute competition at all. Taking the first quarter of 2008 as the benchmark, the price of Chinese tires has not decreased significantly, which is often higher than that of Mexico and Thailand. At present, the reason for the low tire price is the decline in the price of natural rubber and the depreciation of RMB by 5%, which is well known. Moreover, it is precisely because the special insurance case is only a selective punishment for China, ignoring the market demand and economic costs. In addition, the growth of demand in the U.S. market has greatly increased the demand for Chinese tires in the U.S. market after the end of the special insurance case.
Industry insiders believe that the double anti crime has an impact not only on Chinese enterprises involved in the case, but also on the United States. If Chinese products cannot be exported to the United States, American agents have no orders and cannot operate normally, it will also affect the employment of personnel in the field of circulation in the United States. If we import tires from other countries to fill the vacancy, the market price will rise, and American consumers will have to pay more.
China Rubber Association said that less than two years after the end of the U.S. special tire protection case against China (September 2009 ~ September 2012), the United States once again waved a big stick of trade sanctions against Chinese tires, which is not only an injury to China's tire industry, but also an injury to global free and fair trade. This trade war driven by double anti investigation will only form a vicious circle.
At present, China Rubber Association is organizing tire enterprises to prepare industry non damage defense. At the same time, once the US double anti case is filed, the Chinese government will be required to take countermeasures to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of China's tire industry.