Published: August 09, 2008 12:06 am         

Victory for Gleason

Company wins anti-'dumping' petition

Coinciding with the first day of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, R-3rd District, announced a victory over Chinese manufacturer Qingdao Taifa Group Friday morning.

Gleason Products Inc. and Precision Products Inc. initially filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2003 requesting additional anti-dumping duties on the import of hand trucks and caster wheels by the Chinese company. The petition alleged that Taifa sold the products at less than fair market value, a practice commonly known as “dumping.”

Rep. Souder and former Rep. Chris Chocola, R-2nd District, became involved with the effort in 2005.

The DOC’s final ruling on the petition was released July 14, imposing a 383.6 percent “dumping duty” on Taifa following an investigation that showed a number of violations by the company. The tariff must be paid by U.S. companies importing items from Taifa.

“I hope today’s events at Gleason will serve as a symbolic ‘opening ceremony’ for American workers in their fight against illegal Chinese competition,” Souder said. “This is the only case brought in our district that we’ve won. As a symbolic defeat, it is huge. Hopefully it will cause the administration to accelerate the process at looking at these cases.”

A DOC memo on the findings said Taifa failed to report factors of production and U.S. sales expenses for a “major component of the subject merchandise,” refused to answer department officials’ questions, withheld and altered documents and failed to support ownership documentation. The memo also stated that “Taifa did, in fact, sell hand trucks with wheels ... but did not attach the wheels to the hand trucks when shipping, in order to avoid having to pay anti-dumping duties on the wheels.”

The ownership dispute revolved around whether or not Taifa was a privately or government-owned business.

According to a press release from Rep. Souder’s office, “In July 2008, the DOC confirmed that, indeed, the Chinese company had falsely claimed it was privately owned to evade import taxes on foreign government-subsidized industry. Taifa is majority-owned and controlled by the Chinese government. The subsidies Taifa received from the Chinese government allowed the company to significantly cut prices on their products, making it impossible for American manufacturers like Gleason to compete.”

“The Commerce Department’s favorable decision helped to secure the jobs of 150 Hoosier workers at Gleason, and it should bring hope to countless other American workers whose jobs are threatened by the illegal trade policies of China,” Souder said.

Bill Malone, vice president of manufacturing at Gleason, acknowledged Souder’s help as invaluable.

“We are very grateful to Congressman Souder for spearheading this through the Department of Commerce,” Malone said. “We hope that other manufacturers will be encouraged to take action in their own markets to help establish fair, honest trade practices for all American manufacturers.”

Souder called the injunction the first “clean win” against unfair practices by Chinese companies, as no congressional mandates were applied, only pressure.

Gleason Industrial Products is the largest U.S. manufacturer of hand trucks and has been in business in Goshen for 117 years.