While I have had good luck with ST tires, I have only owned 1 set of Chinese tires, and three of the 5 had sidewall failures well before the 1 year mark… the other 2 looked new but were removed and had holes drilled in the sidewalls to prevent them from being used by anyone else… these were OE Duro radial tires…
But in a very short time things have changed to where almost all ST tires are Chinese made and none of them will ever grace my TT… my choices that I am totally comfortable with are Maxxis, or changing wheel size and tire types… though a separate issue the country of origin matters to me…
On the positive side most ST tires do not fail, and most trailer owners aren’t even aware of the reported problems… so if you are comfortable with the tire and you made an informed decision, I am certainly OK with it, and you make a good case for not wanting to spend large amounts of money on your tires…