Bayh backs move to restrict Chinese tire imports

WASHINGTON - The increase in Chinese-made tires exported to the U.S. hurts American manufacturers, including the Michelin plant in Woodburn, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said Tuesday.

Bayh was among several members of Congress who are siding with the United Steelworkers, which has asked the Obama administration to cut the number of Chinese tire imports by more than half.

The union filed a petition with the agency claiming that an increase in imported Chinese tires has caused a steep decline in U.S. production, sales, profitability and employment. It wants the commission to ask the White House to put a quota on the number of tires China can send to the U.S., cutting the imports by more than half.

The steelworkers union, which represents tire plant employees, said more than 5,100 jobs were eliminated when four U.S. tire plants closed. since 2004. About 3,000 more jobs are slated to be lost by the end of the year when three other plants close or stop production of passenger and light truck tires.

The union said imports of passenger tires from China increased from 2004 to 2008 by 215. During that time, the Steelworkers said, U.S. tire production fell 25 percent.

"These are troubling trends," Bayh told the commission at a hearing Tuesday. "If we fail to respond, I fear we will see more tire plants closed, more jobs lost, and more erosion of American manufacturing.

"This is of great concern to me as it is to the 1,300 workers at the Michelin/Goodrich tire plant near Fort Wayne. These workers have watched the adverse import trend from China and begun to wonder if their jobs are secure. In the midst of this serious recession, they are anxious about their employment prospects should these Chinese imports lead to the shuttering of their workplace."

In documents filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission, China's largest tire maker said the American tire industry's problems are caused by the economy, not imports.

The commission is expected to vote on June 18. If it agrees that China is trading unfairly, it will vote on a remedy at the end of the month and send a report to President Obama. He would decide by mid-September whether to impose the quotas.

During the presidential campaign, Obama promised he would not routinely reject requests from U.S. industries that want quotas on imported products. President Bush regularly denied quota requests, and Obama's rejection of that policy helped win organized labor's support during the campaign.

The petition for the quotas on Chinese tires is the first test of Obama's campaign pledge.

Bayh cautioned that Congress might not approve future trade agreements unless the Obama administration is willing to put quotas or other sanctions on countries that cheat.

"I simply don't believe that there will be further trade agreements unless the current rules are enforced," Bayh said.

sylviasmith@jg.net

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