Rep. Davis Speaks Out Against Chinese Tire Trade
By Nina Cardona
WPLN- Nashville Public Radio
July 9, 2008

Congressman Lincoln Davis told members of the US International Trade Commission today that Chinese-made tires pose a threat to Tennessee jobs.

The hearing specifically focused on large tires made for mining and earth moving equipment, but Davis says the entire industry is seeing the same trend. He says the Chinese government offers unfair support to tire factories there: hefty rubber subsidies, free land, and preferential loans from government run banks. Davis contends that puts American companies at a disadvantage, something he says is especially troublesome in the current weak economy. He specifically pointed to a Bridgestone/Firestone plant in his district as the sort of well-paying, union job put at risk by Chinese factories.

The Pall Mall Democrat says current trade agreements with China are in sharp contrast to those hammered out by another Tennessean. Cordell Hull served the same Congressional district Davis now represents before working for eleven years as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Secretary of State.

"Cordell Hull worked on reciprocal trade agreements, not free trade agreements. Reciprocal means you work for the benefit of both, not just one."

Davis says the only benefit in the current market belongs to China. He pointed to the Trade Commissions own figure's, which show the US market share for Chinese-made tires nearly doubled from 2004 to 2007.