Yesterday, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) sent a letter to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in support of workers at Goodyear’s manufacturing plant in Danville. Last year, the United Steelworkers, which represents more than 1,800 Virginians employed at Goodyear, filed an antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) petition with the ITC alleging illegal dumping of truck and bus tire imports from Thailand.
Dumping—when a country exports a product at a price substantially below the cost of producing the product or below the sale price in the exporter’s home market—is considered a form of predatory pricing and an unfair trade practice. In some cases, dumping is used as a tactic to drive domestic businesses out of the market and eventually raise prices for consumers.
“On behalf of more than 2,000 Virginian workers, we ask that you ensure that U.S. trade laws are fairly enforced and that American workers are protected from unfair trade practices. The Goodyear plant in Danville, Virginia, employs more than 2,000 workers, including more than 1,800 who are members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 831,” wrote the senators. “We each have a long history with this plant stemming from our terms as Governor of Virginia.”
“The Goodyear plant in Danville is a well-equipped facility with talented and dedicated workers. It can compete with tires from anywhere in the world as long as the playing field is level,” the senators continued. “There are reports that the same Chinese manufacturers responsible for previous dumping are investing in facilities in Thailand and similarly selling into U.S. markets at below-market prices. If foreign producers are able to circumvent U.S. trade remedies, it undermines the effectiveness of and faith in our rules-based trading system.”
Warner and Kaine have taken a number of steps to support steelworkers’ complaints that they are competing against unfairly dumped tires from China and other countries. In 2017, Warner and Kaine testified to the ITC in support of workers at Goodyear in Danville. Warner and Kaine have also supported AD/CVD cases on passenger vehicle and light truck (PVLT) tires from China and Southeast Asia, which affected the Yokohama plant in Salem.