Rubber Product Manufacturers NAICS 3262

Sep 30, 2025 - Consumers Trading Down to Cheaper Tires

• Despite overall stable demand for tires, there’s been a slow but steady shift away from higher-tier products, Business Insider reports citing a recent survey by Circana. The survey found that 26% of consumers indicated that they traded down to a lower-tier or lower-cost tire to save money on their most recent tire purchase. Circana’s retail point-of-sale data found lower-tier tires represented over 35% of unit demand this year, continuing to take share from top tier offerings. Also, consumers are putting off replacing their tires to save money, with nearly 50% indicating they've driven on tires longer than they would have in the past. Another third of consumers said they tried to save money by only replacing one or two of their tires instead of all four. Tariffs are driving up the cost of imported tires and raising rubber prices for US manufacturers.
• While many businesses are struggling to respond to President Trump’s tariff turmoil, higher trade barriers are creating opportunities for some US manufacturers, The Wall Street Journal reports. One such beneficiary, Grand River Rubber & Plastics, is seeing an increase in new orders and inquiries from customers looking to avoid import tariffs, per WSJ. The Ohio company’s President Donny Chaplin says two previous customers that had switched to Chinese suppliers a few years ago recently came back wanting to buy rubber gaskets from Grand River again. Together with three makers of oil filters, the new business will be worth about $5 million a year if completed, or roughly 10% of Grand River’s revenue, requiring the company to hire and expand production lines, Chaplin told WSJ. However, 10% baseline tariffs and higher duties on goods from China are increasing Grand River’s costs for supplies including machine tools and rubber.

• Tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico harm the US auto industry and directly impact tire prices, supply chains, and manufacturers, according to an analysis by Discounted Wheel Warehouse. Mexico and Canada – prime targets of President Trump’s trade war – were two of the largest exporters of passenger and consumer tires to the US last year. Mexico exported 22.9 million passenger tires to the US in 2024, while Canada’s exports to the US totaled 10.2 million passenger tires over the same period, according to Modern Tire Dealer’s 2025 Facts Issue. Combined, exports from the two countries make up nearly 12% of the nation’s total replacement and original equipment tire market. While Trump’s protectionist policies could provide a boost to domestic tire manufacturers, tariffs would increase the cost of imported rubber, which the tire industry and rubber products makers depend on, leading to higher prices for consumers.
• Producer prices for rubber products manufacturers hit a record high in August, rising 2.7% compared to a year ago, after posting a flat previous August-versus-August annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Employment by the industry shrank 4.9% year over year in July, while the average industry wage at plastics and rubber products manufacturers rose 3.9% YoY in August to $25.61 per hour, a penny shy of its record high in June, BLS data show. Employment and wages at makers of rubber products have been moving in opposite directions, with employment falling relatively steadily since the end of 2022 and wages testing new highs.