Major Warning: US Gunpoint Targets Chinese Tire Overseas Factories!

The US is getting serious again. This time, it is not just targeting China. An import investigation covering the globe and spanning all tire categories is being pushed to the negotiation table. For domestic tire companies regarding "overseas factory construction" as a tax evasion scheme, this might be the most dangerous hurdle in the past decade.

US Gunpoint Targets Chinese Overseas Tire Factories

September 14, Roxanne Brown, International President of the United Steelworkers (USW), wrote to US Trade Representative Jamison Greer, formally proposing a major application: launching a global safeguard investigation on all categories of imported tires pursuant to Section 201 of the "Trade Act of 1974".

Unlike the familiar anti-dumping and special safeguards of the past, the biggest change in this application is breaking away from the traditional thinking of "targeting a specific country", incorporating passenger car&light truck tires, truck/bus tires, off-road engineering tires, and aircraft tires entirely into the investigation scope.

The union stated bluntly that past scattered and fragmented trade remedy measures could no longer keep up with the reality of industrial relocation.

Simply put: Previously, when the US imposed tariffs on tires from Country A, companies would transfer capacity to Country B, not subject to tariffs, changing the origin to continue exporting to the US. Tariff barriers were easily circumvented by relocating capacity.

Letter data shows, the highest increase in tire exports to the US from countries like Serbia, Cambodia, Peru reached 429%. This is the "loop of loopholes" that USW fears most.

Especially many Chinese tire companies chose to build factories overseas, to avoid existing trade barriers. And this Section 201 application aims precisely at this circuitous route to go global.

The Industry Crisis Mentioned by the US Union

USW repeatedly emphasized in the open letter that the US domestic tire industry has fallen into crisis, even elevating tire manufacturing to the national security level. Tires are the basic guarantee for transportation, agriculture, mining, and industrial operations. Continuous decline in domestic capacity will directly impact supply chain security.

A set of core data warrants attention:

1. The US tire manufacturing industry's July industrial production index was only 72.4, with a base of 100 in 2017, capacity is significantly lower than historical levels; since 2000, US domestic tire production has dropped by about 40%.
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3. From 2024 to date, 9 tire factories in the US have shut down successively, over 7,000 workers lost positions. Goodyear, Michelin, Bridgestone, Yokohama and other top companies all have factory closure plans.
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5. Currently, only 55 tire-related manufacturing factories remain across the US, the union says these jobs are the cornerstone of community stable development.

China is the core of the union's argument. According to USW letters, Chinese capacity continues to expand—2025 automotive tire production is about 865 million units, total capacity exceeds 1 billion units.

Looking back at history, USW pushed for the "421 Special Safeguard" case targeting Chinese tires as early as 2009, also the only successful case of this clause, but measures expired in 2012. Subsequent multiple anti-dumping cases all encountered the same problem: restricting exports of one country, capacity transfers rapidly, trade restriction effects are greatly diminished.

Also for this reason, the union is no longer satisfied with single-point strikes, demands upgraded to global tiered import restrictions, while supporting local industry plans, including domestic production capital subsidies, government priority procurement of domestic tires, etc.

Imported Tires Slightly Decline, But Risks Are Not Short-term

Latest customs statistics, in the first 7 months of 2026, US imported tires totaled 162.34 million units, down 3.9% year-on-year.

Passenger Car Tires: 98.02 million units, year-on-year -2%

Truck/Bus Tires: 34.52 million units, year-on-year -8%

Aircraft Tires: 183,000 units, year-on-year +18%

Motorcycle Tires: 2.07 million units, year-on-year -9%

Bicycle Tires: 4.67 million units, year-on-year +20%

American Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) July forecast, 2026 US total tire shipments 330.3 million units, down 1.8% year-on-year, market demand itself is weak.

USW also knows, short-term import data has declined, but they are concerned about the long-term supply shock brought by capacity transfer, rather than fluctuations in a single year. As long as global excess capacity can continue to transfer to barrier-free countries, the trend of US domestic factory shutdowns is hard to reverse.

The Impact on Domestic Tire Enterprises, Must Understand

Currently, this investigation is only a union application, not officially filed yet. Subsequently, it needs USTR evaluation, ITC injury investigation, final measures implementation ruled by the US President, overall carrying significant uncertainty.

But once filed and measures implemented, impact will far exceed past trade frictions. Unlike country-specific anti-dumping, special safeguards, Section 201 is a global safeguard measure, regardless of origin, Chinese domestic tires, tires produced by Chinese-funded overseas bases in Thailand/Cambodia/Serbia, exports to US will be uniformly constrained, completely impacting the industry's core model of overseas factory construction, transshipment tax avoidance followed for over ten years.

Domestic tire factories were already restricted by high tariffs on China, this time direct impact is limited; Chinese-funded overseas capacity will become the main bearing subject.

More critically, this Section 201 investigation is after Section 232 (25% tariff), Section 301 tariff, the third core tool of US tire trade barriers. If USTR accepts filing, it will form 232+301+201 triple tariff barrier structure, letting domestic and overseas tire exports to US fall into systematic risk.

Meanwhile Mexico, Canada rely on USMCA agreement enjoying trade exemption advantages, North American tire supply pattern may welcome reshaping. The USTR filing result in the next 30 days is the core key variable determining the direction of global tire trade.

Conclusion

From 2009 single country special safeguard, to now seeking global scope all categories tire safeguard investigation, to possible landing "Triple Tariff Structure", the net of US tire trade protection is getting tighter and tighter.

This is no longer simple trade friction targeting a certain country, but trying to build a global coverage protection net, plugging loopholes in capacity transfer. For domestic tire industry, this is a major warning. Going overseas layout, can no longer only take "changing origin" as a panacea for risk avoidance.

Market negotiations continue, every step of filing, investigation, and ruling is worth tire industry professionals closely monitoring.