Michael Futch
www.fayobserver.com

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan is among a group of lawmakers who have lent support to the Department of Commerce's decision to initiate investigations into Chinese tire imports.

The group of 31 senators also urged Department of Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker to act to restore fair trade conditions, according to a news release.

The lawmakers made their support known in a letter to Pritzker.

The investigations are in response to petitions filed by the United Steelworkers on behalf of U.S. tire workers, who allege that Chinese tire companies are illegally subsidizing the manufacture of tires and dumping them on the U.S. market, undercutting U.S. tire producers and workers.

If allowed to continue, the release said, the unfair trade practices could severely damage the domestic tire industry, including Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plant in Fayetteville.

"Senator Hagan is fighting for our jobs against intense unfair Chinese competition," tire builder James Raynor, who has been employed at the Fayetteville plant for 17 years, said in the letter. "With her continuing efforts on our behalf, and her leadership, we're hopeful that we can restore fair market conditions. That's all we're looking for, a level playing field."

Hagan, a Democrat, supported a similar petition to protect North Carolina's tire workers in 2009, which led to the nation imposing duties on imported Chinese tires until 2012.

"As you well know, China has targeted the passenger vehicle and light truck tire sector for development and there are several hundred tire manufacturing facilities now operating in that country," Hagan and her colleagues wrote in the letter.

To read the full article on the Fayetteville Observer's website, please click here.