In Tie Vote, ITC Find U.S. Producers Are Injured By Chinese Tire Imports
In a victory for the United Steelworkers (USW) union, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday (July 14) issued a final determination that domestic tire producers are being materially injured by dumped and subsidized imports from China. The vote was split along party lines 3-3, but the commission's regulations require that a tie vote be treated as an affirmative determination.
Speaking of tie votes, Indonesia has now filed a panel request in the DS491 case, where one of the issues relates to tie votes:
"As Such" Claims
Threat of Injury Determination
(5) The requirement contained in 19 U.S.C. § 1677(11)(B) that a tie vote in a threat of injury determination must be treated as an affirmative USITC determination is inconsistent with Article 3.8 of the AD Agreement and Article 15.8 of the SCM Agreement because the requirement does not consider or exercise special care.
I mentioned the consultations request here. If Indonesia wins this tie vote claim in the threat context, will someone later challenge the tie vote provision as a more general matter?
