Originally Posted By: faramir9
Cbut why is it so hard to find good tires made in the USA that match (or very nearly match) the price of comparable if not better tires made Elsewhere?
Congrats and cheers for making an effort for your neighbors either next door or across the country, reliant on those jobs.
Unfortunately you might be at a disadvantage. In Europe, safety regulations drive the use of winter tires in many places, and with Europe being much further north than much of the USA (what is it, Barcelona Spain is the same latitude as Philadelphia? Im too lazy to look at a map but its something like that), snow tires are more common.
SO its likely that snow tires will come from there, as its probably more efficient plant-wise.
Sometimes you just cant get what you want from a domestic supplier. That is what it is. At that point there are products which come from countries with similar social costs, and are priced better/worse/same, and then there are products which come from nations where the workers are paid very little, yet the prices, while lower, dont necessarily reflect that. Korea may be an interesting case, as Ive heard (not confirmed) that social costs are similar, but the government is so export oriented, that they massively subsidize a lot of things. Not sure if that is true or not.