China protests U.S. imposition of duties on Chinese tires

A detonator in the U.S.-China trade war has gone off for the first time since U.S. President Donald Trump took office last week. After the United States decided to impose heavy anti-dumping duties of up to tires imported from China, Beijing strongly protested the move, taking the issue to the World Trade Organization.

The U.S. Department of Commerce decided on Tuesday (local time) to slap anti-dumping duties of 9 to 22.57 percent and countervailing duties of 38.61 to 65.56 percent on certain truck and bus tires imported from China. The countervailing duties were up to three times as high as the preliminary rate of 17.06 to 23.38 percent. If the U.S. International Trade Commission makes a final decision the Commerce Department’s decision, Trump’s pledge of “45 percent duties” would be realized for the first time.

In response to the U.S. decision, China's Ministry of Commerce issued a statement on Wednesday, claiming that the U.S. investigation procedures were defective and ignored facts. China argued that the U.S. “deliberately” refused to examine the documents that China had submitted for rebuttal and viewed normal commercial transactions between corporations as subsidization. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce also claimed that the U.S. violated the WTO rules, urging Washington to change its “unfair” investigation method.

A senior official at China’s Commerce Ministry told CCTV on Wednesday that Beijing had raised the issue with the WTO over the U.S. trade investigation method, adding he expected the world trade body to make a “fair” decision.

The Chinse ministry expressed its clear intent to take retaliatory measures to “protect” the interests of China's tire industry. Even before Trump’s inauguration, China had vowed to retaliate if the U.S. imposes heavy duties on Chinese imports, taking the chronic tire dispute between the world’s two largest economies.

Wan-Jun Yun zeitung@donga.com