European tire industry calls for tougher EU trade defence measures

Brussels – Tyres Europe has called on the EU to strengthen its trade defence policy, warning that the tire manufacturing sector is under increasing pressure due to structural overcapacity and market distortions.

In a 17 June statement, the industry association said it was joining “the growing number” of European industrial sectors calling for a stronger and more responsive EU trade policy ahead of the European Council discussions on economic security, competitiveness and EU-China economic relations.

According to Tyres Europe, the European tire industry supports around 500,000 jobs across the bloc, invests heavily in innovation and supplies products that are essential for passenger transport, freight, agriculture and defence.

However, the association warned that the industry's competitiveness depends on “a level playing field” that is under growing pressure from “structural overcapacity, state-induced market distortions and unfair trading practices.”

Such distortions, it added, “cascade across value chains, weaken investment incentives and progressively erode Europe's industrial base.”

Addressing the challenges, Tyres Europe noted, requires “a coherent policy framework that combines effective trade defence instruments with broader measures to strengthen Europe's industrial competitiveness and resilience.”

The group also cautioned that existing trade defence measures can struggle to keep pace with rapidly changing global supply chains.

In sectors such as tire manufacturing, the association said, production and exports can be redirected within months, while investigations and implementation take considerably longer.

As a result, exporters can “front-load shipments during investigations” and later “rapidly redirect production and exports through alternative manufacturing locations.”

This, Tyres Europe said, means European producers “continue to face unfair competitive pressure even after investigations have concluded.”

The Brussels association said it therefore “fully supports” a recent joint industry statement calling for a more ambitious application of EU trade defence policy.

It argued that such instruments should be used “in the most effective way to ensure they have the expected impact at the right time.”

Among its recommendations, Tyres Europe called for additional resources for EU trade defence investigations as well as “a more proactive and strategic use of existing instruments” aligned with industrial and economic security objectives.

Furthermore, it called for the exploration of further “WTO-compatible” tools to tackle “systemic state-induced distortions,” and more strategic use of the EU’s ‘foreign subsidies regulation.’

“For the tire industry, manufacturing decisions are long-term, investment-intensive and highly sensitive to market predictability,” the statement said, adding that “once industrial capacity is lost, rebuilding it is extremely difficult.”

The association concluded by urging EU leaders to ensure that trade defence policy evolves with the changing global trading environment.

Europe, it stressed, “should remain open to trade,” and such openness “must be accompanied by effective instruments that guarantee fair competition and safeguard the industrial capabilities.”