Summary
Germany vows not to “give in” as Donald Trump imposes a 25% tariff on imported cars, effective April 2, with parts tariffs starting in May.
France, Canada, China, and Japan criticize the move, warning of economic harm and trade disruptions. European leaders call for retaliatory tariffs to maintain a balanced trade field.
Automakers’ shares, including General Motors and Ford, dropped significantly.
Trump argues tariffs will boost US manufacturing, while critics claim they will increase consumer prices and hurt global economic ties.
Honestly, I don’t think most people in the U.S. who buy German cars are worried about the price. I have a used 2018 Audi and I love it — it has buttons and knobs instead of a touchscreen and is really fun to drive — but if anything goes wrong, it’s like a thousand dollars to fix. It’s a PHEV and I have solar panels so I basically never have to buy gas. And I got it during the pandemic when the used car prices went insane. I traded in a dented Toyota for more than I bought it for and ended up with an Audi A3 e-tron sportback.
But I’m the exception. I would think 99% of new Mercedes, BMW, Audi, etc. buyers in the US are buying a luxury car and 25% percent is not going to dissuade them.
The tariff applies to all imports, including budget options from Japan and Korea. It’s not just about luxury vehicles, and I have a feeling it’s meant partly to reduce competition for Tesla.
Don’t worry, Tesla will raise their prices too, because of the other tariffs on the electronics (and because they can).
And they’ll still have a devil of a time selling them
They couldn’t give me a Tesla.
Trump turning the White House lawn into a Tesla dealership to help their declining sales should have been a clue for what was to come.
Probably applies to parts for repair too unfortunately.
It’s going to hit GM and Ford who are set up to build cars in Canada and USA. The cars they make in US rely on a global supply chain. It’s going to fuck every carmaker in the US market. Hyundais and Chevys are going to go up in price 30% overnight with the metal tariffs on top of all that.
BMW are build in USA, no tariff on them.
Now $1250 to fix since parts tariffs are coming in May. As an owner of an AMG this is annoying and while I have the money to ignore these impacts it’s still frustratingly stupid that it’s even happening at this level. Every part to repair my car usually has to be shipped from Germany which means you and I will be paying more.
Also, new German cars are mostly touch screens and capacitive buttons. So they need frequent electrical components when they fail.
Also, 99% of German car buyers were the same people paying double for a G wagon during COVID and are now so upside down in their loan that the cars are falling like a rock for pricing. Those people have jobs that generally depend on a healthy economy…