WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Commerce Department said on Monday that car and light truck tires from Vietnam are being unfairly subsidized due to a currency undervaluation, the first finding of its kind by the agency.
Tires from Vietnam are being subsidized at a rate ranging from 6.23% to 7.89% through the conversion of U.S. dollars into Vietnamese dong at an undervalued exchange rate, the department said in its final determination in the trade case.
It also found in its investigation that tires exported from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam had been dumped at below-market rates in the United States, the Commerce Department said.
Tires from South Korea were dumped at a rate of up to 27%, from Taiwan at up to 102%, from Thailand at up to 21% and from Vietnam at up to 22%, it said.
In 2020, U.S. imports of car and light truck tires were valued at approximately $1.2 billion from South Korea, $373 million from Taiwan, $2 billion from Thailand and $470 million from Vietnam, the department said.
(Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Karishma Singh)