Ochs Testifies On Steel Trailer Wheel Investigation

Mike Ochs, director of government affairs at the RV Industry Association, testified this morning in front of an International Trade Commission (ITC) committee in opposition to an antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of imported steel trailer wheels from China. Included in the investigation are steel wheels used on RVs.

The investigation is in response to a petition filed by a domestic wheel manufacturer who alleges steel wheel imports from China are being sold to the United States at less than fair value and are alleged to be subsidized by the Government of China. The RV Industry Association opposes this allegation and the antidumping and countervailing duties the petition seeks.

If the antidumping and countervailing duties are implemented, they would significantly harm existing supply chains in the RV industry, make the alternative to imports a lower quality and less timely delivered product, and artificially raise prices on American manufacturers.

“The proposed duties do nothing to reduce the actual cost of US steel, which is the root of the petitioner’s complaint,” said Ochs. “The duties would only make inputs like Chinese wheels more expensive and leave established American RV manufacturers with no viable alternative. The petitioners could not meet the vast shortfall in inputs such a proposal would create. Nor do they state with any certainty that an increase in duties will increase the volume of wheels they are able to produce.”

Today’s conference is one of the first steps in the investigation, for which the preliminary determinations must be concluded by September 24, 2018.

Read Ochs’ full testimony.