The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) says truck and bus tire manufacturers in China are dumping tires in the U.S. at less than fair market value, and those tires should be subject to tariffs of at least 20%. The tariffs are retroactive.

The DOC announced its preliminary results Aug. 29.

In every tariff investigation, the DOC selects manufacturers to serve as mandatory respondents. Those companies then provide data and answer questions, and those figures and answers serve as the basis and gauge for the industry as a whole. Other manufacturers also may volunteer to provide their own data throughout the investigation as well.

In the truck and bus tire investigation, Prinx Chengshan (Shandong) Tire Co. Ltd., and Double Coin Holdings Ltd. were the mandatory respondents.

Here are the rates:

Tire manufacturerRatePrinx Chengshan 20.87%Non-selected separate rate respondents 20.87%Rate for all other manufacturers in China 22.57%

Commerce preliminarily found Double Coin “is not eligible for a separate rate and is part of the China-wide entity.”

The higher rate for the other manufacturers in China is “due to their failure to respond to Commerce’s requests for information.”

The DOC says there was evidence that truck and bus tires were dumped in the U.S. soon after the United Steelworkers sought the investigation in January and, as a result, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be instructed to retroactively impose the tariffs on products. The effective date will be 90 days prior to the forthcoming publication of this preliminary determination in the Federal Register. (It usually takes about a week for the Federal Register notice to be published, so the tariff retroactive date likely will be around June 7.)

These anti-dumping tariffs are on top of the countervailing tariffs the DOC preliminarily approved in June. Adding the two tariffs together determines the full penalty. For Double Coin, for example, it's 39.63%. Review the countervailing tariff details here.

For most manufacturers, the combined rate will be above 40%. 

The DOC cites U.S. Census Bureau data and says 8.9 million truck and bus tires were imported into the U.S. from China in 2015. Those tires are valued at more than $1 billion.