2009 Tariffs on China Tires and effect?

Great Debates
1

This question is strictly on passenger car tires. I understand that there are other tires that are imported from China like farm tires and off road tires, but would like to keep that market away from this discussion to not confuse the data.

So, whenever US tariffs are discussed on China; economists say that it hurts both countries equally. I get the rationale behind the argument.

So in 2009, the Bush administration put high tariffs on Chinese tires for passenger cars and light duty trucks due to safety concerns.

I have seen car tire quality remain great over the past 11 years and prices are reasonable too. But what do economists see in this particular market ? Has the passenger car tire market/manufacturing/consumer suffered due to the tariffs or has it benefitted ?

Does the data validate the rationale of both countries hurting ?

2

No, consumers in whichever country is imposing the tariffs hurt the more.

So in 2009, the Bush administration put high tariffs on Chinese tires for passenger cars and light duty trucks due to safety concerns.

If the product safety concerns were correct, wouldn’t it have been a better solution for those tyres not to be put on the US vehicle fleet at all rather than people paying more for them?

Has the passenger car tire market/manufacturing/consumer suffered due to the tariffs or has it benefitted ?

If substandard tyres are not coming into to US then the US has benefited. If China is making and selling the same number of compliant tyres into the the US market they are largely unaffected.