Howdy, sorry I'm late to the conversation.
Although a vast majority of trailer tires are made in China (as just about everything else), it seems the winds of change are upon us. Gocntry bought some marathons that were made in the U.S. of A.
A lot of U.S. tire manufacturers/distributors are currently moving production (or pulling out of China) due to the unannounced tire 'trade war' we are having.....which you probably didn't even know about.
Late last year, our president slapped a 35% tire tariff on many tires coming from Chinese factories. The tire companies, instead of just upping the chinese manufactured tire prices, chose to spread it out over their entire lines to average it. All tires went up anywhere from 12 -20 % pretty quick. Some companies decided to move the production facilities to other countries like Taiwan, etc. to get around this tariff....along with consolidating/shrinking tire lines. Many sister line brands have been shelved.......which was kinda already being planned due to global demand slowing. The tariff just sped it up some.
It also has kind of created a shortage in some tires (as they move the molds from China), which just drives prices up. What isn't been announced (cause it's not politically expedient) is that the Chinese are buying up a lot of the world materials that are used to produce tires (which we have to buy from them)........which drives prices up more.....not even figuring in that the price of oil keeps going up (another factor in tire production) Every time I order tires now, it seems like the price has moved up. Believe it or not, Goodyear (and it's subsidiaries like Kelly tires) are now one of cheaper priced tires in the American market.
Back on topic, even though a lot of trailer tires are produced in China, not all are........and even less may be due to the tariff.....if it holds up. This will only affect tires sold in the United States, but we are one of the biggest markets.
Just google the term "chinese tire tariff" if you have experienced sticker shock, when buying tires lately, and want to learn more. It's probably going to get worse.
