Fighting to Preserve Our Domestic Tire Industry
Domestic tire output declined roughly 40 percent since 2000 costing thousands of good, family-sustaining jobs and devastating communities across the United States.
And it’s no secret why.
In this time, we've seen a swell of imports as nations like China and others have targeted our market as they've rapidly inflated their own production capacity.
Workers Under Attack
Plant closures announced in the past two years alone have or will cost more than 6,000 USW members their jobs:
- In 2024, Sumitomo Rubber closed its Tonawanda, N.Y., facility, costing 1,550 workers their jobs.
- In 2025, Goodyear cut approximately 850 jobs at its plant in Danville, Va.
- Also in 2025, Bridgestone closed its La Vergne, Tenn., facility, impacting 700 workers.
- In 2026, Yokohama closed its Salem, Va., facility at a cost of 570 jobs.
- Goodyear announced that it will shutter its Fayetteville, N.C. facility by 2027, cutting 1,700 jobs.
- Michelin plans to shut down its Tuscaloosa, Ala., facility by 2028, impacting 1,200 workers.
Nearly 1,500 more nonunion tire workers were impacted by closures in the same period: Some 1,400 workers at Michelin’s non-union plant in Ardmore, Okla., and 90 workers at Yokohama’s Spartanburg, S.C., facility.
Fighting Back
For as long as bad actors have been targeting our markets, our union has been fighting back. In 2009, we successfully petitioned for a Section 421 case against the surging tire imports from China.
We’ve pursued anti-dumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) petitions from more than half a dozen countries on products ranging from passenger vehicle and light truck (PVLT) tires to truck and bus (TBT) tires, off the road (OTR) tires and more.
And we’re not done.
In September 2026, we wrote a letter to United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, calling on him to initiate an investigation into tire imports under Section 201 of the Trade Act.
Section 201 is a safeguard against surges of imports – like what we’re seeing in the tire industry now. It creates a special investigation in which the International Trade Commission (ITC) performs a deep analysis of an industry and its impacts on production and workers. It then makes recommendation that can include measures like tariffs or import controls.
Ultimately it creates temporary relief to help rebuild the domestic industry. That’s what our U.S. tire industry needs.
Good Jobs, Healthy Communities
Union tire builders earn good wages and strong benefits, and their tire plants often serve as the bedrock of their communities.
We are fighting for the entire domestic tire industry: not just to make sure these plants stay open, but to ensure these jobs continue to be the best.
Tell USTR: Preserve Our Domestic Tire Industry
To: United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer
We the undersigned call on you to initiate an investigation under Section 201 of the Trade Act to limit tire imports and develop relief measures to strengthen the sector and increase domestic jobs and production.
Unionized tire plants often serve as the bedrock of our communities, providing hundreds of good, family-sustaining jobs that enable workers to afford a good life and to give back to their communities. Their loss hurts not just individual workers and families but whole regions that depend on the economic output these plants provide.
Given the rapid losses across the domestic industry, we call on you to move quickly to institute trade remedies, preserve remaining tire-building jobs and grow our sector.