The current tariff war is creating unprecedented challenges for tire manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers. However, not all brands are impacted equally.

David Pulla, President of Dynamic Tire says that his company’s supply chains and tire availability remain unaffected. “At Dynamic Tire, we proactively manage our inventory with extensive planning and strategic foresight, ensuring consistent, reliable access to a comprehensive range of tires for our customers—adding value through stability and assurance,” he says.

Robert Vetter, Vice President Sales Eastern Canada for Huayi Tire Canada echoes these sentiments. “So far,” he says, “the tariff situation has not impacted our tire supply chain or product availability. The Double Coin Manufacturing Plant in Thailand is producing at full capacity, meeting demand across all segments including TBR, and OTR/IND/CRANE tires.”

Other parts of the tire industry, however, are not as fortunate. Angela Crivoi, Senior Market Planning Manager at Yokohama Tire Canada says that the tariff situation has made supply chain management much more complex and demanding. “It’s a particular issue for products coming from the U.S.,” she says. “We’re seeing increased landed costs, longer lead times, and more pressure on margins.”

A more strategic approach

Crivoi says that tire manufacturers need to be more strategic today in order to balance product availability with increased costs. “We’re closely monitoring the demand for products in order to avoid over-stocking tires that have high tariffs on them, and under-stocking high-demand SKUs,” she says.

Unfortunately, in some cases, tire manufacturers have no choice, but to bring in tires that are subject to higher tariffs. For example, if a particular tire is in high demand in Canada, and it happens to be made in the U.S., then tire companies have no choice but to stock them anyway, Crivoi adds.

On the distribution side, Tony Mougios, Vice President of Strategic Affairs, Marketing, Merchandising and Corporate Sales at Groupe Touchette says that Tariffs have created a lot of uncertainty and chaos, even internally.

“We had to put a task force together to monitor the situation,” Mougios says. “Fortunately, we have very good relationships with tire manufacturers, and they have felt the need to confide in us as well. We position ourselves as a leader in the industry here in Canada in terms of distribution of tires to the marketplace, and they reach out to us on a regular basis to see what kind of trends we’re seeing.”

Consumer impact

Mougios notes that although the tariff situation seems to have stabilized a bit, “all this uncertainty has hit consumers in the wallet, and we’re seeing a shift to the lower tiers in the marketplace. Consumers are much more price-sensitive when they shop for tires.”

One of the ways to help consumers deal with rising costs and uncertainty is to have available, “a lot of depth and breadth in your product offering,” Mougios adds. “You must have a full assortment across many brands and across different price points. The more diverse your product offering is in times like these, where there could be ruptures in the supply chain, you stand a better chance in terms of capturing demand.”

In order to approach the situation from a more strategic perspective, as Yokohama’s Angela Crivoi mentioned, Mougios says that he and his team have, “clearly mapped out the origin of every product in our assortment. This gives us a clear understanding of where the industrial footprint is—in the U.S., outside the U.S.—and we need to be aware that some of that product may no longer be competitive in the marketplace when compared with other brands that are not necessarily sourced from the U.S.”

While that is most certainly a sound strategy, Crivoi explains that some tire manufacturers will choose to raise prices on tires coming from non-tariffed countries, in order to make up for diminished profit margins on tires that are subject to tariffs. In other words, rather than ask consumers to pay for the full tariff on a specific tire that may be coming from the U.S., which could result in lost sales, this approach is a way of sharing the pain across a broader number of SKUs.

Innovative technologies

While it’s difficult to forecast future needs in today’s uncertain environment, all companies—from manufacturers to retailers—are employing innovative technologies to help them deal with the chaos.

“We’re leveraging advanced forecasting models,” says Yokohama’s Crivoi. “We are tracking each container in real time, we know where each one is and when it will arrive. This is helping us with our supply chain challenges.”

Technology is helping Yokohama anticipate the bottle necks, she adds, as well as prioritize the SKUs that are in demand, and communicate with all parties in the supply chain. “This kind of digital support is essential today in a market that’s shifting so rapidly,” she adds.

Some companies, like Dynamic Tire, are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI). “We leverage a dedicated supply chain team that employs advanced AI, automation, and full supply chain visibility,” explains Dynamic Tire’s Pulla. “This integrated approach allows us to optimize inventory levels and respond swiftly to market demands, thereby providing our partners and customers with the right solutions—adding value through reliability and responsiveness. This strategic approach enables us to stay well-stocked and responsive to market demands, providing our customers with the right products at the right time—an essential advantage in today’s environment.”

In like manner, Groupe Touchette is connecting with suppliers in order to gain more transparency. “We’re developing APIs (Application Programming Interface) with certain manufacturers in order to get real time data about their inventory levels,” Mougios says. “We work very closely in terms of supply chain collaboration with our key suppliers.”

Groupe Touchette is also introducing real-time delivery monitoring for their customers. “We launched a program in certain parts of Canada that allows tire retailers to know exactly where their shipments are at any point in time, and when their tires are going to be delivered,” Mougios explains. “This helps our customers optimize efficiencies, because if they know exactly when the product is going to be delivered, they can then schedule their customers to come in for installation at the right time.”