President Biden from a tyre perspective

Less than 24 hours after Joe Biden was sworn-in as the 46th president of the USA, “Trump, the presidential limo and its tyres” – first published in August 2020 was amongst our most popular stories of the day. Of course, in normal circumstances we don’t spend too much time considering presidential limousine fitments. However, “Trump, the presidential limo and its tyres” was a follow-up story to the well-documented Twitter bust-up US president 45 (Donald Trump) had with Goodyear. With this in mind, it is worth looking at what we know so far about the Biden presidency from a tyre perspective.

First of all, Joe Biden (as he then was) hit back hard against Trump’s “Don’t buy Goodyear Tires” tweet last summer. Writing in a statement he spoke out in support of Goodyear and its employees:

“Goodyear employs thousands of American workers, including in Ohio where it is headquartered. To President Trump, those workers and their jobs aren’t a source of pride, just collateral damage in yet another one of his political attacks”.

And he also challenged the then sitting president’s claims: “President Trump doesn’t have a clue about the dignity and worth that comes with good-paying union jobs at places like Goodyear – jobs that can support a family and sustain a community.”

Later in 2020 financial analysts reported that automotive as well as tyre stocks in general and Continental shares in particular stood to gain from a Biden presidency. Jefferies analysts suggested the Biden administration would be “pro electric vehicles and clean energy” and that “a faster transition to electric vehicles could dilute short-term margins but offer content growth opportunities. More homogeneous regulation across regions could increase scale effects in the long term”.

A week after president Biden won the election, we observed a so-called “Biden bounce” that especially benefitted Japanese tyremakers Bridgestone, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Yokohama and Toyo Tyres.

Of course, it is far too early to say whether or not there will be any kind of long-term benefit to the tyre business as a result of the policies and actions of the Biden administration. However, the pro-automotive and certainly less confrontational approach does appear to show initial signs of promise.

And it seems a fair bet that now the keys for the presidential limo affectionately known as “the beast” have passed to Joe Biden, it is very likely that they will continue to the be fitted with the Kevlar-reinforced run-flat tyres produced by Goodyear.