Union asks Obama to curb tire imports from China

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United Steelworkers union filed a petition on Monday asking President Barack Obama to restrict tire imports from China that they said were destroying the U.S. tire industry.

"American workers are struggling to make it through the worst economic crisis in 80 years. Our tire industry is collapsing under the weight of 46 million Chinese tires entering our shrinking market annually," Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said.

The union asked that the government impose a quota that would restrict imports of passenger car, light truck, minivan and sport utility vehicle tires from China to 21 million during its first year.

That measure would return China's tire exports to the United States to 2005 levels, it said, adding that the requested quota would grow by 5 percent annually over the next three years before expiring.

The U.S. International Trade Commission, an independent agency, has 60 days to investigate the section 421 petition and decide whether to recommend that Obama provide import relief.

If the panel ruled in favor of the union, Obama would have 90 additional days to decide what, if any, protection to provide. He could construct his own remedy or follow the ITC's advice if a decision is due in September.

PLANT CLOSURES

During his presidential campaign last year Obama promised not to routinely reject such petitions restricting imports from China, as had his predecessor, George W. Bush. He won strong labor support in his bid for the White House.

In a letter to U.S. textile producers, Obama promised he would decide such cases "on their merits, not on the basis of an ideological rejection of import relief like that of the current (Bush) administration."

Still, last week, Obama's Treasury Department declined to formally label China a currency manipulator, even though Obama talked tough on that issue during the campaign.

The Steelworkers represent 15,000 tire workers employed at 13 plants in nine U.S. states that together account for nearly half of U.S. tire production.

Their petition says consumer tires imports from China increased 215 percent in volume and 295 percent by value from 2004 to 2008, causing U.S. manufacturers to cut jobs.

Over the same period, Continental Tire closed two plants in Kentucky and North Carolina, Bridgestone/Firestone one plant in Oklahoma and Goodyear one plant in Texas, they said.

This year, Cooper Tire has announced plans to close its plant in Albany, Georgia, which employs 1,400 workers, and Michelin has said it will close its facility in Opelika, Alabama, which has 1,000 workers.

China agreed to the emergency U.S. import relief mechanism as part of an agreement paving the way for Beijing to join the World Trade Organization in December 2001.

However, no section 421 relief has ever been granted because former President George W. Bush rejected every petition that reached his desk, often on the grounds it was not in the overall economic interest of the United States.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; editing by Paul Simao)