WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — Kent International and Detroit Bikes have withdrawn a petition to the U.S. International Trade Commission that sought protection from complete bike imports in the form of new tariffs of up to 50 percent.
Attorney Kelsey Rule, who filed the petition on behalf of Kent and Detroit, announced the withdrawal in a news release Monday.
"Both companies remain committed to promoting U.S. bicycle manufacturing and will continue their efforts to create new jobs in this industry," Rule said in the release.
Detroit Bikes and Kent — the owner of the Bicycle Corporation of America factory in Manning, South Carolina — had filed a Section 201 petition on Oct. 18. The petition asked the ITC to investigate whether U.S. bike assemblers were being harmed by imports.
Under Section 201, the tariffs would apply to imports from all countries, not just China. That would prevent importers from switching their bike assembly to other low-cost countries to avoid the new 10 percent tariff on Chinese bikes, which took effect in August and rises to 25 percent in January. The petition asked for a 50 percent tariff on bikes valued at $400 and below, which would kick in only after the first 15 million bikes were imported. They would be in addition to existing tariffs. The petition also asked for a reduction in the U.S. Customs import de minimis and an elimination on the tariffs on imported components used for bike assembly.
Detroit Bikes owner Zak Pashak told BRAIN last week that the petition would have helped create new bike assembly jobs at the company's Detroit facility.
Although few company representatives wanted to speak on the record, the petition was unpopular with other bike importers and buyers.
