By Sen. Sherrod Brown
Contributing columnist
Tire retreading supports thousands of good paying jobs across the country and in Ohio.
Akron is the Rubber Capital of the world, and the tire and retread industries have been critical to the local economy for decades.
Trucking companies rely on retreaded tires to keep their trucks on the road and bus fleets need retreaded tires to keep up their operations. It’s sustainable and it’s affordable.
But the number of retreading facilities in the U.S. has been decreasing. In 1982, there were more than 3,000 U.S. facilities. In 2023, there were only about 500 left.
Shoddy, cheap tires from countries like China keep flooding into the U.S. and are cutting into the retreaded tire market. These tires are so poorly made they can’t be retreaded. These disposable tires are bad for the environment and they’re bad for workers, forcing many American retreading shops to shut down. Too many workers have lost good-paying, skilled jobs.
That’s why I introduced new bipartisan legislation to bolster the American retreading industry.
Our bill would provide a tax credit to consumers, truckers, and companies that purchase American retreaded tires. Often consumers and truckers will turn to Chinese imports because they’re a little bit cheaper in the short-term, even though constantly replacing the shoddy tires adds up to higher costs over time.
This tax credit would help close that gap and make it more affordable for people to buy American retreaded tires in the first place. And it would help lower costs for anyone buying a retreaded tire. That’s particularly critical for independent truckers, who have to buy their own tires. It would save them money, and save money throughout the trucking supply chain.
It’s simple: we want more cars and trucks driving on American roads with American tires, made and retreaded by American workers.
Our bill would help make that happen, and help support these jobs in Ohio and around the country.
Sherrod Brown is the senior U.S. senator from Ohio.
