8.4Chinese team to lobby US against tire protectionism

Chinese team to lobby US against tire protectionism

 

http://autonews.gasgoo.com/auto-news/1011604/Chinese-team-to-lobby-US-agains
t-tire-protectionism.html

 

Shanghai, August 4 (Gasgoo.com) A team of Chinese lobbyists has left for the
United States to fight against proposals that would impose punitive measures
on Chinese-made tires, state media outlet reports Tuesday. 

 

The non-governmental team including members of the China Rubber Industry
Association, as well as representatives of Chinese tire manufacturers,
headed to the US yesterday for a week-long lobbying effort against a 55%
tariff the U.S. International Trade Commission proposed to impose on Chinese
imported tires. 

 

The case is the first special protective measure ever against China since
2007, and also the largest of its kind by volume, involving $2.2 billion,
the China Daily said. 

 

Giti Tire, a joint venture and a leading tire exporter, has sent two
representatives with the team. "The US proposal cannot hold any water. The
plan, if Obama eventually agrees, will surely jeopardize our business, but
cannot benefit theirs either. It's absolutely meaningless," said Shen
Weijia, executive director of Giti Tire China. 

 

Giti Tire exports tires worth $200 million, a majority of which goes to the
US. 

 

China's Ministry of Commerce said on Monday it hoped the U.S. government
would listen to its own industries' advices and not impose protective
measures on China-made tires. 

 

The U.S. Tire Industry Association, the American Coalition for Free Trade in
Tires, the American Automotive Trade Policy Council, and the Retail Industry
Leaders Association have all expressed strong opposition to the planned
moves. 

 

Thomas J. Prusa, an economist from Rutgers University in New Jersey said in
a report that "each job 'saved' by the ITC's tariffs would come at the cost
of at least 12 jobs lost, and possibly more than 25. Most tire-related
employment in America consists of the people who distribute and install
tires, not people who produce them. By depressing tire sales, a tariff would
jeopardize those jobs. " 

 

What's more, he said Chinese imports come at the lower end of the price
spectrum, where American producers have little interest in, or capacity for,
making substitutes for the Chinese imports. A tariff-induced price rise
would mainly hurt low-income American drivers. 

 

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to make a final decision on the
issue before September 17, following an August 7 hearing.

 

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