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China sends envoy to Washington on tire case

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-17 19:42

BEIJING: A Chinese deputy commerce minister flew to Washington on Monday to lobby against a proposal to impose punitive duties of up to 55 percent on imports of Chinese tires, the government announced.

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Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan will meet White House, Treasury and trade officials to press Beijing's case against the tariffs, the Commerce Ministry said on its Web site.

Beijing has rejected the duties as a violation of World Trade Organization free-trade principles. Another deputy commerce minister, Fu Ziying, criticized the proposal last week as protectionist and said it would harm US-Chinese trade.

The government of President Barack Obama is deciding whether to impose duties after the US International Trade Commission ruled in June that competition from rapidly rising imports of Chinese tires was hurting American producers.

The union that brought the tire case, the United Steelworkers, says Chinese exports to the United States more than tripled in 2004-08 to 41 million tires a year.

The union wants Obama to cap imports of Chinese tires at 21 million per year.