Five years after the implementation of tariffs on off-the-road tires from India, the U.S. Department of Commerce says it is maintaining the rates set in 2017.
That means OTR tire producers and importers from India will continue to pay these countervailing tariffs:
| Producer/Importer | Rate |
| Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT)
| 5.36% |
| ATC Tires Private Ltd. | 4.72%
|
| All others | 4.94%
|
Tariffs are automatically reviewed five years after they’re initially implemented — the process is called a “sunset review.” Parties who have a stake in that particular industry and tariff are given time to request a formal review. In this instance, two parties made that request — Titan Tire Corp., which produces similar products domestically, as and the Government of India.
No tiremakers in India asked for a review.
Without the producers (tiremakers) on board, the Department of Commerce then conducts a smaller scale review. It’s called an expedited review. That process has been completed.
The purpose of the review — to determine whether the tariffs are still needed to protect the domestic industry. And in this instance, the Department of Commerce has said yes, the tariffs are still necessary.
The Government of India made an argument that it was imperative to remove the tariffs, because it said it had discontinued some of the subsidy programs in the last five years. Specifically, the Indian government pointed to three programs that had been discontinued.
But Titan Tire Corp. objected, in part because the government said only three of the nine programs that were in use during the initial tariff investigation had ended. Titan also noted that those three subsidies, all of which had benefited BKT, only contributed to a “small overall portion” — 0.14% — of the overall 5.36% tariff accessed on BKT’s tires.
