US Tire Imports Q1 2025: Light Truck Tires Surge

According to Washington news, in the first quarter of 2025, the total amount of tires imported by the United States from abroad remained basically unchanged, but the import volume of light truck tires increased significantly.

From the perspective of import source countries, Thailand is still the largest supplier of tires for passenger cars, light trucks, medium trucks and buses in the United States. 

The number of tires exported from Cambodia to the United States has grown very fast, and Serbia and Pakistan have also begun to export tires to the United States. ​

According to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Commerce, in the first quarter of 2025, the total import volume of passenger car, light truck, medium truck and bus tires in the United States exceeded 57.3 million.

Compared with the same period in 2024, the import scale increased by 252,000, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%. After in-depth analysis, this growth trend is mainly driven by the significant increase in the import volume of light truck tires. ​

In the first quarter of 2025, the import volume of passenger car tires in the United States showed a slight decline, with a cumulative import volume of 41.9 million, a year-on-year decrease of 0.2%.

From the perspective of the country supply pattern, Thailand has firmly established itself as the largest supplier of passenger car tires to the United States, with exports reaching 11.1 million tires, up 6.2% from the same period last year, with an increase of about 500,000 tires. Among the major sources of supply, only Canada has achieved an expansion in export scale, with a year-on-year increase of 5%.

Particularly noteworthy is Cambodia. Although it ranks sixth among suppliers, its export volume has increased a lot at once, with 2.92 million tires sold this quarter, a surge of 40.3% over last year.

Cambodia's sales have soared because sales in Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan have declined significantly, and exports in these countries have all decreased by more than 10% compared with last year.

Driven by shipments from tire manufacturers in Cambodia and Serbia, imports of light truck tires increased by 4.2% in the first quarter to 10.1 million tires. Cambodia is currently the third largest supplier in this category, with shipments increasing by 54.2% from 2024.

Imports of medium-duty truck/bus tires fell 1.1% to 5.37 million units this quarter, almost entirely due to a 33.9% drop in shipments from Thailand, the top source of tires in this category, accounting for 29% of total imports (1.65 million units). Almost all other major exporters of truck/bus tires to the United States saw growth, with Cambodia topping the list with a 226.1% increase in shipments, jumping to fourth place. ​

From the perspective of market demand, light trucks are widely used in the United States, whether in urban logistics distribution or in some engineering construction, farm operations and other fields.

In recent years, the continued recovery of the US economy has led to frequent business activities, which has greatly stimulated the frequency of use of light trucks, which in turn has driven the demand for replacement of their tires. Consumers' increasing attention to vehicle performance and safety has led to a preference for high-quality, high-performance products in tire selection, which has also prompted importers to increase their efforts to introduce high-quality light truck tires. ​

On the supply side, the rapid rise of Cambodia's tire industry is eye-catching. Many Chinese tire companies, such as Sailun, GM, and Doublestar, have set up factories and invested in Cambodia. These companies have rapidly expanded their production capacity by taking advantage of Cambodia's relatively low labor costs, abundant rubber raw material resources, and relatively favorable investment policies.

For example, several semi-steel and full-steel radial tire projects of Sailun's overseas subsidiary CART TIRE have achieved mass production and operation; GM's Cambodia base has achieved a production capacity of tens of millions in a short period of time. All these have enabled Cambodia's tire exports to the United States to grow rapidly. ​

Thailand has long been the top source of tire imports to the United States, but now it has suffered setbacks in the field of medium-duty truck/bus tires. In October 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce made a final anti-dumping ruling on truck and bus tires produced in Thailand.

The dumping duty rate for Bridgestone Tires was 48.39%, the duty rate for Prinx Chengshan Tire (Thailand) Co., Ltd. was 12.33%, and other Thai tire manufacturers and exporters were subject to an average duty rate of 12.33%. The high anti-dumping tariffs have severely weakened the price competitiveness of Thai medium-duty truck/bus tires in the US market, resulting in a sharp decline in their shipments. ​

Serbia has entered the top ten source countries of light truck tires in the United States for the first time, which is inseparable from the commissioning of Shandong Linglong Tire's factory in Serbia.

Linglong Tire has successfully created the "Made in Europe" label by taking advantage of the local location and labor resources, effectively circumventing trade barriers against China and opening up a new path for its products to enter the US market.