Tire Industry Jobs Returning After Obama Enforces Trade Laws

by James Parks, Dec 1, 2009

Less than three months after President Obama enforced U.S. trade law and provided relief to the domestic tire industry in response to surging exports of tires from China, there are signs the tire industry is rebounding.

Writing on the Campaign for America’s Future website, Dave Johnson reports that Cooper Tires is adding 100 new jobs to its plant in Findlay, Ohio, where unemployment is 9.1 percent. He quotes Findlay’s Mayor Pete Sehnert who told Toledo on the Move.com:

That’s 100 more people working. That’s 100 more people spending their money in our community, paying their bills, paying their taxes so it means a lot.

Click here to read Johnson’s post.

In September, Obama imposed increased duties on tires from China for three years after the U.S. International Trade Commission found that tariff relief was needed to urgently reduce the negative impact of those tire imports. For eight years, President George W. Bush refused to invoke trade laws to help U.S. workers.

 As Johnson says:

President Bush refused to enforce trade agreements and we suffered eight years of job loss and factory closings, but President Obama enforced it, and we are already seeing jobs return.

Research by the United Steelworkers shows that between 2004 and 2008, the domestic tire industry suffered massive injury. Capacity by the tire companies is down 17.8 percent, and production is down by 26.6 percent. Employment has been reduced by 14.2 percent along with reductions in hours worked and wages paid. Net domestic sales were down 28 percent.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (2)