MTD Facts Issue: Imports Increased During 2022

Thailand remains the biggest exporter of tires to the United States market in three key categories – passenger, light truck and medium truck tires.

And even though Thailand’s passenger and consumer tire exports to the domestic market actually slowed slightly in 2022, there’s no sign of the nation giving up its top spot in the near future.

Thailand has a 10-million-unit cushion in passenger tire shipments and a more than 14 million-unit lead when combining passenger and light truck tire units.

Full-year estimates show more than 164 million passenger tires were imported into the U.S. in 2022, up from 151 million in 2021. (That’s an 8% increase.)

A year ago, a country made the top 10 list if it shipped more than 3.9 million passenger tire units to the U.S. In 2022, that threshold was 4.2 million units, which meant Brazil, with 3.1 million imports, and Portugal, with three million,…