To the Editor:
Just to set the picture of this story properly, it needs to be said that I entered the ‘full-time” work force in 1960 with a large multinational tire and rubber products corporation. I retired in 1998 but “dabbled” in the industry for another 12 years before ending my “work for money life”.
In the 1960s, we lived in a world of duties/tariffs. They had gone into full swing after WWII as industries were being rejigged to meet the needs of a new world of peace and prosperity. What this meant was that national markets had to be protected to safeguard the enormous investment required for facilities to meet the needs of each countries requirements.
The plant that I worked in was 1.2 million square feet in size and employed 3,000 people who manufactured every size of pneumatic tire required in Canada. From a 4” go-cart tire up to a giant open-pit mine haulage truck tire that stood more than eight feet high and, which today, is more than 12 feet high in addition to tires for the airplanes being built at De Haviland and Canadair.
There was also an inner-tube plant on the property, as all tires required a tube back then and, as well, there were plastic food wrap and air-foam seating production facilities along with a variety of other bits and pieces of rubber goods produced.
The volumes would be a tenth of what they would be in the U.S., therefore, governments put duties in place to protect our jobs and investment. This was consistent throughout the developed world.
BUT, it was highly inefficient and very costly.
Over the next 50 years, things like the Auto Pact, Free Trade Agreements etc. saw modern high-volume single-product facilities constructed on both sides of the border to meet the needs of the “North American/World Market”. We saw offshore products become a big part of the new competitive world that we were forced to adjust to.
BUT, we in Canada survived it, and we will survive this current U.S. unjustified and unnecessary disruption.
So, if you need tires this year, BUY THEM NOW. The Koreans and Japanese will be rubbing their hands ready to meet the needs of the Canadian market with no tariffs against them.
BUT remember there are only three companies that manufacture tires in Canada: Bridgestone, Goodyear, and Michelin. But with the massive proliferation of tire sizes, they produce a narrow range of sizes in very efficient high volume facilities.
Your size may be produced outside of Canada just like the other full-line manufacturers.
My suggestion? BUY NOW.
G. William Streeter
Southampton
March 4, 2025
Editor’s additional Note:
- Michelin in Nova Scotia.
- Bridgestone in Joliette, Quebec.
- Goodyear in Napanee, Ontario & Medicine Hat, Alberta.
