U.S. may impose steep duties on Chinese-made steel truck wheels

By Miles Moore

The U.S. Department of Commerce has determined that Chinese makers of steel truck wheels have been dumping their products in the U.S. and is recommending steep antidumping and countervailing duties against them.

Commerce announced the duties March 16 after determining that Chinese steel truck wheel manufacturers are selling their products in the U.S. market at less than fair value and accepting subsidies from the Chinese government. The duty notices--in some cases as high as 193.5 percent--appeared in the March 23 Federal Register.

Two U.S. steel wheel manufacturers, Accuride Corp. of Evansville, Ind., and Hayes Lemmerz International Inc. of Northville, Mich., filed the antidumping and countervailing duty complaints against Chinese manufacturers March 30, 2011.

The wheels covered by this investigation are 18 to 24.5 inches in rim diameter, used with either tubed or tubeless tires and more than 50-percent steel by weight, Commerce said in a fact sheet. Steel wheels imported as an assembly attached to tires or axles were not part of the investigation, the agency said.

According to Census Bureau data, China exported 2.29 million steel truck wheels to the U.S. last year valued at $84.2 million, but Commerce said these data don't reflect the entire market, as the types of wheels being investigated aren't necessarily captured in the census figures.

Commerce set antidumping duty rates of 82.9 percent against Zhejiang Jingu Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Yata Industry Co. Ltd.; 45 percent against Jining Centurion Wheels Manufacturing Co. Ltd.; 63.9 percent against a list of eight wheel exporters; and 193.5 percent for all other exporters.

The agency also set countervailing duties of 25.7 percent against Jining Centurion Wheel Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and Jining CII Wheel Manufacture Co. Ltd.; 32.6 percent against Shandong Xingmin Wheel Co. Ltd. and Sino-tex (Longkou) Wheel Manufacturers Inc.; 38.3 percent against Zhejiang Jingu Autmobile Components, Chengdu Jingu Wheel Co. Ltd., Zhejiang Wheel World Industrial Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Yata Industrial Co. Ltd.; and 34.6 percent against all other manufacturers.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) is set to make its final injury determinations in the China steel wheel case by April 30, Commerce said. If the ITC makes a final determination of injury against the U.S. wheel industry, the duties will go into effect. If not, the investigation will be terminated.

On March 13, President Obama signed a new law establishing that the Commerce Department has the right to levy countervailing duties against products from non-market-economy (NME) countries such as China that subsidize exporters.

The law was designed directly to counter a December 2011 decision in the Federal Circuit appeals court that the U.S. government has no right to order countervailing duties against NME countries. The case beforeAir Jordan