Double Coin Holdings LLC and its American subsidiary, China Manufacturers Alliance LLC (CMA), have withdrawn their request to have the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) review the 12% tariff placed on its OTR tire imports from China from September 2013 through August 2014.
However, the companies are still fighting the 105% duty imposed on their OTR imports from September 2012 through August 2013. Last week, Aaron Murphy, vice president of CMA, testified before the DOC in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to get the duty overturned.
He believes he has a good argument. The DOC originally had determined the company’s sale prices were well above market economy costs of production. In effect, it said CMA had not been dumping OTR tires into the marketplace.
However, in a move allegedly based on a policy change, Double Coin says the Commerce Department decided it would ignore the actual data and impose a 105% anti-dumping rate on CMA’s OTR imports. Murphy claims the reason is the perception that a Chinese shareholder of Double Coin had influenced the manner in which CMA determined its U.S. selling prices.
As for the latter review, which was requested to fight the original 12% tariff on its tires (as was the first review), Murphy says it was withdrawn "so that we can shield ourselves from a penalty rate and the liability involved."
