Carmakers could still face up to $12,000 tariff per car in US

A Michigan-based economic consulting group said on Thursday that carmakers will still face an tariff impact of $2,000-$12,000 per vehicle, despite the White House moving to soften trade levies on imported car parts in the US.

Anderson Economic Group said US assembled vehicles such as Honda’s Civic and Odyssey, the Chevy Malibu, Toyota Camry Hybrid, and Ford Explorer faced an impact of $2,000-$3,000.

But that could rise to as much as $10,000-$12,000 for imported vehicles, including full-size luxury SUVs, some EVs and other vehicles assembled in Europe and Asia, such as the Mercedes G-Wagen, Land Rover and Range Rover models, some BMW models, and the Ford Mach-E.

The Ford Explorer assembled in Chicago previously faced a tariff impact of about $4,300, which would drop to about $2,400, the group estimated, while some Jeep, Ram and Chrysler models from Stellantis could face a $4,000-$8,000 hit.

GM said on Thursday that it expected a hit from tariffs of up to $5bn, including $2bn on vehicles it imports from South Korea.

The carmakers did not comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump agreed to give carmakers two years to boost the percentage of domestic components in vehicles assembled in the US.

It will allow them to offset tariffs for imported motor parts equal to 3.75% of the total value of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of vehicles they build in the US through April 2026, and 2.5% of US production through April 2027.

Motor industry leaders lobbied the administration furiously during the weeks since Trump first unveiled his 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and motor parts. The levies, aimed at forcing carmakers to reshore manufacturing domestically, had threatened to upend a North American automotive production network integrated across the US, Canada and Mexico.

The White House said the change would not affect the 25% tariffs imposed last month on the eight-million vehicles the US imports annually.

Reuters