South Korea's share of US car tire imports fell from 11.1% in 2019 to 5.4% in 2025, according to US-reported trade data compiled by UN Comtrade. Shipments from Korea dropped from 17.20 million tires to 9.38 million over the same six years, a 45.5% decline, while total US car tire imports rose 12.6% to 174.51 million units. Korea slid from the second-largest supplier of car tires to the US market to the seventh.
The timing matters because the trade remedy that marks the break in this series is now under formal review. In September 2026 the US Department of Commerce found that revoking the 2021 antidumping order on Korean passenger and light truck tires would likely lead to dumping at margins of up to 27.05%, and the US International Trade Commission voted to run a full five-year review rather than an expedited one. What the ITC decides will shape whether Korean volume stays offshore, keeps moving into US plants, or comes back.
Korea's US car tire volume fell 45.5% while the US import market grew 12.6%
The decline is not a story of a shrinking US market. Total US imports of new pneumatic car tires (HS 4011.10) climbed from 154.95 million units in 2019 to 174.51 million in 2025. Korea moved the other way. Its shipments to the US fell in four of the six years after 2019, and the value of those shipments fell from $1,109.3 million to $585.4 million, a 47.2% drop.
Korea's position had already eroded slowly before 2019. In 2015 it shipped 19.14 million car tires to the US and held a 12.9% share. By 2019 that share was 11.1%, a loss of 1.8 percentage points in four years. Over the following six years the share fell by another 5.7 percentage points, about twice the annual pace.
| Year | US imports from Korea (million tires) | Korea share of US imports | Value from Korea (US$ million) | Total US car tire imports (million tires) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 19.14 | 12.9% | 1,206.0 | 148.24 |
| 2016 | 18.32 | 12.6% | 1,149.5 | 145.53 |
| 2017 | 15.95 | 10.8% | 1,024.4 | 147.34 |
| 2018 | 16.76 | 11.2% | 1,071.7 | 149.48 |
| 2019 | 17.20 | 11.1% | 1,109.3 | 154.95 |
| 2020 | 14.86 | 10.5% | 886.7 | 141.21 |
| 2021 | 12.76 | 8.2% | 709.9 | 155.92 |
| 2022 | 14.87 | 9.1% | 917.6 | 163.53 |
| 2023 | 11.98 | 7.2% | 752.7 | 165.41 |
| 2024 | 8.95 | 5.3% | 626.8 | 168.69 |
| 2025 | 9.38 | 5.4% | 585.4 | 174.51 |
Unit values show the decline was not driven by Korea abandoning cheaper lines. The average customs value of a Korean car tire entering the US was $64.48 in 2019 and $62.41 in 2025, while the all-origin average rose from $54.22 to $60.24. Korean tires still sit above the import average, but the premium narrowed from about $10 per tire to about $2.
The 2021 antidumping order marks the break, and Commerce says dumping would resume without it
Commerce published antidumping duty orders on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from Korea, Taiwan and Thailand on July 19, 2021. The investigation rates for Korea were 27.05% for Hankook Tire & Technology, 14.72% for Nexen Tire and 21.74% for all other Korean producers. Korea's share of US car tire imports fell to 8.2% that year, from 10.5% in 2020.
Rates have since come down for the named exporters. In the final results of the 2023-2024 administrative review, published on July 13, 2026, Commerce set margins of 13.03% for Hankook, 8.02% for Nexen and 10.53% for Kumho, a non-examined company assigned the average of the other two. The all-others cash deposit rate remains 21.74%.
The sunset process is now running. Commerce initiated the first five-year review on June 1, 2026, received no substantive response from Korean, Taiwanese or Thai respondents, and on September 30, 2026 published expedited final results finding margins likely to prevail of up to 27.05% for Korea, 101.84% for Taiwan and 21.09% for Thailand. Separately, on September 4, 2026 the ITC determined to conduct full reviews covering the antidumping orders on Korea, Taiwan and Thailand and the countervailing duty order on Vietnam. The ITC has said its schedule will be announced later, so no hearing or vote date has been set.
Mexico, Thailand and Cambodia took the volume Korea gave up
US importers did not stop buying tires; they changed where they bought them. Mexico's shipments rose from 14.11 million units in 2019 to 23.32 million in 2025, up 65.3%, lifting its share from 9.1% to 13.4% and making it the second-largest supplier. Thailand, the largest supplier, grew from 37.34 million to 44.81 million units, up 20.0%, and edged its share up from 24.1% to 25.7% despite being covered by the same 2021 antidumping action.
Cambodia is the clearest new entrant. It recorded no US car tire shipments in the 2019 data, first appeared with 1.51 million units in 2022, and reached 13.43 million units in 2025, a 7.7% share that is now larger than Korea's. Vietnam rose from 9.95 million to 12.61 million units over the six years, though its 2025 figure was below its 2024 level of 15.52 million.
The pattern matters for anyone modeling the review outcome. The gap left by Korea was filled mostly by origins outside the Korea order, and in Thailand's case by an origin inside a parallel order that kept growing. That suggests US demand for imported car tires is supplied by a broad and mobile set of plants, which is the kind of evidence both sides typically argue over in a full injury review.
Korea kept its export revenue flat by redirecting tires to Europe
Korea's own export statistics show that the industry lost US volume without losing total export revenue. Korea-reported car tire exports were worth $2,388.9 million in 2019 and $2,374.8 million in 2025, a change of just 0.6%. Shipped weight fell 12.3%, from 546.5 thousand tonnes to 479.1 thousand tonnes, so export value per kilogram rose 13.4%, from $4.37 to $4.96. Korean exporters are shipping less rubber and earning more for each kilogram of it.
The destination mix moved sharply. The US took 46.4% of Korea's car tire export value in 2015 and 41.6% in 2019; by 2025 the figure was 23.1%. Germany went the other way, from 4.2% in 2019 to 11.0% in 2025, as exports there rose from $100.1 million to $261.2 million, an increase of 160.9%. Germany is now Korea's second-largest car tire market by value, ahead of the Netherlands, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Korean statistics put 2025 car tire exports to the US at $549.8 million, 44.6% below the 2019 figure of $992.8 million. That decline closely matches the 47.2% fall in the US-reported value, which gives some confidence that the trend is real and not an artifact of one country's reporting.
Hankook's 10 million unit Tennessee target exceeds Korea's entire 2025 US shipments
Part of the lost import volume has moved inside the US tariff wall rather than out of the market. Hankook said in March 2025 that its Clarksville, Tennessee plant was running Phase 2 of its passenger and light truck line and Phase 3 of its truck and bus radial line at the same time, and that on completion the plant would have annual capacity of 10 million passenger and light truck tires and 1 million truck and bus radial tires, with about 2,200 employees. Trade press reporting in March 2025 put the completion date at the end of 2026.
That 10 million unit target is larger than the 9.38 million car tires the US imported from all of Korea in 2025. Not every Tennessee tire replaces a Korean import, and HS 4011.10 does not cover every light truck size that Hankook's line produces. But the comparison shows the scale of the shift: the largest Korean producer is building enough US capacity to cover the entire remaining Korean import flow in the passenger segment.
What the shift means for tire makers, distributors, OEMs and investors
Tire makers. For Korean producers, the US business is becoming a local manufacturing business, with exports from Korea increasingly aimed at Europe, led by Germany. For competitors in Thailand, Mexico and Cambodia, Korea's retreat has already been absorbed; the open question is whether the ITC continues the orders on Thailand, which ships 44.81 million car tires a year to the US.
Distributors and importers. Importers sourcing from Korea face a 21.74% all-others deposit unless they buy from a company with its own reviewed rate, currently 13.03% for Hankook, 8.02% for Nexen and 10.53% for Kumho. Sourcing plans for 2027 should be stress-tested against both continuation and revocation of the orders, since the ITC schedule is not yet set.
Vehicle makers. OEM programs that specified Korean-built tires have a growing domestic alternative as Clarksville moves toward its 10 million unit target. Plants sourcing from US-built supply avoid antidumping exposure on that volume altogether.
Investors and raw-material buyers. Korea's car tire export value has held near $2.4 billion while weight fell 12.3%, which points to a richer product mix. Natural and synthetic rubber demand tied to Korean export plants is likely to track European demand more closely than before, and US rubber, carbon black and steel cord demand tied to Korean-owned capacity is likely to rise as Tennessee ramps.
For market sizing context, see the Radial Insights North America passenger car tires market report, the Europe passenger car tires market report, where Korean exports are increasingly landing, and the Asia Pacific passenger car tires market report covering the producing side.
Methodology and sources
Trade figures cover HS 4011.10, new pneumatic rubber tires of a kind used on motor cars, including station wagons and racing cars. US figures use US-reported general imports in units and customs value; Korea figures use Korea-reported exports in US dollars and net weight. Shares, changes and unit values were calculated by Radial Insights from annual totals. The US antidumping scope also includes some light truck tires classified under HS 4011.20, which are not counted here. Korean and US figures for the same flow differ because of timing, valuation and reporting differences between the two customs authorities; this analysis relies on US data for US market shares. Korea-reported unit counts were not used because they show inconsistent unit-to-weight ratios in some years.
- UN Comtrade, US imports of HS 4011.10 by partner: annual quantities and values for 2015-2025 (query shown for 2025; other years via the period parameter).
- UN Comtrade, Korea exports of HS 4011.10 by partner: annual export values and net weight for 2015-2025.
- Federal Register, 86 FR 38011, July 19, 2021: antidumping duty orders on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, and the investigation margins.
- Federal Register, July 13, 2026: final results of the 2023-2024 administrative review for Korea (Hankook, Nexen, Kumho rates).
- Federal Register, September 30, 2026: final results of the expedited first sunset reviews, margins likely to prevail.
- US International Trade Commission, September 22, 2026 notice: determination to conduct full five-year reviews, Inv. Nos. 701-TA-647 and 731-TA-1517-1519.
- Hankook Tire, March 2025 release: Tennessee plant expansion phases and capacity targets.
- European Rubber Journal, March 17, 2025: reported end-2026 completion date for the Tennessee expansion.
Frequently Asked Questions
Korea's share fell from 11.1% in 2019 to 5.4% in 2025, as shipments dropped from 17.20 million to 9.38 million tires.
Mexico rose from 14.11 million to 23.32 million tires between 2019 and 2025, and Cambodia went from no reported shipments to 13.43 million. Thailand grew from 37.34 million to 44.81 million.
The 2023-2024 review set 13.03% for Hankook, 8.02% for Nexen and 10.53% for Kumho, and the all-others rate remains 21.74%.
Commerce found in September 2026 that margins of up to 27.05% would likely prevail if the order were revoked, and the ITC is running a full five-year review with its schedule still to be announced.
No: Korea's car tire export value was $2,388.9 million in 2019 and $2,374.8 million in 2025, a 0.6% change, as Germany's share rose from 4.2% to 11.0%.
Hankook targets 10 million passenger and light truck tires and 1 million truck and bus tires a year at Clarksville, more than the 9.38 million car tires the US imported from Korea in 2025.