Editorial: Tariffs and the 10 Biggest Tire Exporters

Hardly a day seems to go by without the word “tariffs” popping up in some headline or news report.

In late-August, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit based in Washington D.C., in a 7-4 decision, declared that President Donald Trump does not have the authority to impose sweeping tariffs based on the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. (Plaintiffs included several small businesses, plus Oregon, Colorado, New York, Vermont and eight other states.)

In response, the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court, which will begin hearings this month.

Readers of MTD have rolled out — or are formulating — their own strategies to mitigate the impact of tariffs. (Turn to MTD's October 2025 issue for more details.)

How will tariffs, if enacted, affect full-year import numbers? That remains to be seen. For example, the Trump administration has applied a 50% tariff to India, a major exporter of ag and OTR tires to the U.S.

MTD’s 2026 Facts Issue, which will arrive in your mailbox this January, will present full-year import shipment unit estimates — broken out by the biggest exporters in three categories (passenger tires, consumer tires and medium truck tires) — and the percent of change, if any, versus prior-year numbers.

I thought it might be interesting to list the 10 biggest exporters — by country, not company — of consumer (passenger and light truck tires) to the U.S. during 2024, plus the tariffs that have been imposed upon them. These are the latest rates, as of press time, and were announced on July 31:

Thailand (proposed tariff rate: 19%): As reported in the 2025 MTD Facts Issue, MTD estimated that 50.5 million consumer tires — both passenger and light truck — were shipped from Thailand to the U.S. in 2024, an 18.6% year-over-year jump.

Mexico (proposed tariff rate: 25%): An estimated 25.1 million consumer tires were shipped from Mexico to the U.S. last year, up 2.4% from prior-year levels.

Vietnam (proposed tariff rate: 20%): Vietnam boosted its estimated consumer tire exports to the U.S. in 2024, jumping 18.1% year-over-year to an estimated 20.7 million units.

Indonesia (proposed tariff rate: 19%): Indonesia’s total, estimated number of consumer tire shipments to the U.S. during 2024 totaled 15.2 million units.

Canada (proposed tariff rate: 35%): Similar to Indonesia, Canada’s estimated consumer tire exports to the U.S. didn’t change a great deal between 2024 and 2023, declining just 3.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Cambodia (proposed tariff rate: 19%): Cambodia generated the biggest ramp-up of consumer tire shipments to the U.S. in 2024: a whopping 73.1% versus prior-year totals.

Japan (proposed tariff rate: 15%): Japan reduced its number of consumer tires exported to the U.S. in 2024, down 6%.

South Korea (proposed tariff rate: 15%): South Korea experienced the biggest, year-over-year drop in units — nearly 25% — in 2024, shipping an estimated 10.2 million tires to the U.S.

Philippines (proposed tariff rate: 19%): The number of consumer tires exported from the Philippines to the U.S. in 2024 increased by 15.7%, coming in at around 5.8 million estimated units.

Chile (proposed tariff rate: 10%): In 2024, Chile shipped an estimated 5.6 million consumer tires to the U.S., down 4.6% versus 2023.

Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Canada, Cambodia, India and South Korea are also among the 10 biggest exporters of medium truck tires to the U.S., based on units. The three others were China, Spain and Brazil. Thailand remained the biggest medium truck tire exporter to the U.S. in 2024.

The tariff situation remains “fluid,” as the saying goes. What are you doing in preparation? We’d love to hear from you. 

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected].