Titan International, Inc. responds to Trump's suggested Goodyear boycott

QUINCY, Ill., Aug. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI), manufacturer of Titan Tires, Titan Wheels and Goodyear^® Farm Tires, is responding after Wednesday's reports focused on Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's alleged diversity training document that gained nationwide attention. 

"Wednesday morning, we learned of the news being shared about Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's reported diversity training and felt it was important to make clear that Titan is in no way connected to the training in question," said Titan CEO, Paul Reitz. "While Titan has licensing rights to design, produce and sell the Goodyear Farm Tires brand, we are an entirely separate publicly held entity under separate management and have no shared staff or facilities with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company."

The fight for American jobs
President Trump has repeatedly expressed support for U.S. manufacturers through his "Buy America" campaign. Titan has long-been a champion of American manufacturing and has invested heavily in legal action to protect American manufacturing jobs. In 2017, Titan won a favorable 5-0 ruling from the ITC fighting back against the unfair trade practices from India and Sri Lanka related to off-road tires. In this respect, President Trump and Titan are well-aligned in protecting the more than 2100 hard-working Americans employed by Titan in multiple manufacturing facilities across Illinois, Iowa, Ohio and Tennessee who proudly build Goodyear Farm Tires, along with Titan Wheels and Titan Tires.

Titan has also played a vital role as an essential service during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. When others shut down, Titan ensured safe operation to keep America's vital workforce working with the equipment they need to do their jobs.

"One of our primary concerns as a manufacturer is the safety of our employees. Titan is proud of the important role we play in our nation's critical infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic, as our plants have continued to operate safely in support of the farming and construction industries," said Reitz.

"Titan has a diverse workforce throughout all of our locations in the U.S. that build some of the world's best agriculture, construction, and forestry wheels and tires. While at work, we believe our employees should be focused on operating safely and manufacturing high-quality products, and therefore employees are allowed to wear what they would like as long as it meets safety standards and isn't offensive," said Reitz. "Our employees take tremendous pride in our products and we welcome any politician, customer, farmer, construction operator, or just curious folks that would like to see how we operate and meet the fine men and women that we employ."

The ripple effects
In addition to Titan's 2100 hard-working employees across the United States, Titan and Goodyear Farm Tires are sold at nearly 2,000 local tire dealers across the country. And a misguided movement to cancel Goodyear Farm Tires — manufactured and sold by a completely separate company from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company — could adversely affect thousands of additional hard-working family-owned tire businesses across the country.

About Titan International, Inc.
Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI) is a leading global manufacturer of off-highway wheels, tires, assemblies and undercarriage products. Headquartered in Quincy, Illinois, the company produces a broad range of products to meet the specifications of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and aftermarket customers in the agricultural, earthmoving/construction, and consumer markets. In the United States, the company produces two distinct tire brands — Goodyear^® Farm Tires and Titan Tires.

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