A World Trade Organization dispute panel is set to rule against China in its complaint against a 2009 U.S. safeguard duty order on imported Chinese passenger vehicle and light truck tires. The dispute panel reportedly issued a confidential preliminary ruling to the United States and China Sept. 24 which largely backs Washington's defense that the safeguard duties are legal under the special safeguard provisions contained in China's 2001 WTO accession protocol.
While the ruling is only an interim report, WTO dispute panels rarely change their preliminary findings in the final ruling. The panel is due to issue its final ruling to the United States and China on Nov. 8.
The panel was established Jan. 19 at the request of China, which charged that President Obama's decision to apply an increased duty on all imports of passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China for a three-year period violated global trade rules.
The increased duty, which took effect on Sept. 26, 2009, was set at 35 percent on top of the normal 4 percent duty applicable to passenger vehicle and light truck tires. The additional duty fell to 30 percent in the second year and will fall to 25 percent in the third year.
Obama's decision was taken after the U.S. International Trade Commission found, in response to a petition brought by the United Steelworkers, that surging imports of Chinese tires had caused or were threatening to cause market disruption to U.S. producers of like or directly competitive products.
