The U.S. Commerce Department has launched a probe into imports of vehicle tires from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam to determine whether they are being sold at less than fair value.

The department also said Tuesday it was investigating whether Vietnamese producers of passenger vehicle and light truck(PVLT) tires are receiving unfair subsidies. 

According to Reuters, the United States imported almost four billion dollars in tires from the four nations, including one-point-two billion dollars-worth from South Korea last year. The report quoted United Steelworkers(USW) as saying that tire imports from the four countries have climbed around 20 percent since 2017, amounting to 85-point-three million tires. 

Reuters quoted USW International President Tom Conway as saying even though demand for PVLT tires increased, domestic producers were still forced to grapple with reduced market share, falling profits and lost jobs. 

The Commerce Department assessed that the alleged dumping margins range from 43 to 195 percent for South Korea, 21 to 116 percent for Taiwan, 106 to 217-and-a-half percent for Thailand and 5 to 22 percent for Vietnam.