Uniroyal  and Goodrich merged to prevent a hostile takeover by Goodyear,
then Michelin bought them anyway.  This was over ten years ago.
Continental bought General, Pirelli bought Armstrong, Bridgestone bought
Firestone, and Yokohama bought Mohawk.  Sumitomo bought Dunlop and Cooper,
and now has a "joint venture" with Goodyear.  There really are no American
tire  technologies left, but Goodyear, and  how long with they last.  In
reality Michelin  taught the others how to make tires, in today's world.
  This gave those companies manufacturing capacity here. Michelin then built
a plant in Greenville, SC and it  runs most Michelins sold in the US.   The
rubber plantations  are all in the tropics, rubber is a raw material  that
is shipped all over the world.  There is no difference in the rubber per se,
the difference is in the technology.  Don't think you must have a tire made
in France to get a good one.
 Jeff/Florida

[text/html]