What it means for the UK as Donald Trump introduces 25% tariffs on all car imports
Donald Trump has announced that the US is going to impose a 25 percent tariff on all foreign car imports.
"The beauty of the 25 is it’s one number. And that number is going to be used to reduce debt greatly in the United States," Trump said at a White House press briefing.
“This is the beginning of Liberation Day in America. If you build your car in the United States there will be no tariff."
These new tariffs will kick in on 2 April and no nation is going to be exempt from them, which means that cars made in the UK and sold to America will be among those impacted.
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The US already imposes a car import tariff, but at 2.5 percent it's just a little bit of an extra cost on cars made abroad, which might help nudge American consumers towards their own country's motors.
Switching things up to 25 percent is likely to have a much more dramatic effect on consumer decisions over in the US since the businesses involved with selling cars to the US are likely to crank up their prices to compensate for the extra cost.
Put it this way, if you had the choice between a car that cost $10,000 and one that cost $10,250 you'd probably look pretty close at various factors, such as how they were like to drive, fuel mileage, storage space and all the other things you need to think about when comparing cars.
Meanwhile, if your choice is between the car costing $10,000 and the other one now costs $12,500 then that first car starts to look a lot more appealing.
Car manufacturers that operate in the UK will now face significantly more financial obstacles when trying to sell to the US market.
According to the BBC, the US is the UK's second largest car export market after the European Union, and the motors we flog across the Atlantic are predominantly luxury vehicles.
They point out that British-based car company Jaguar Land Rover's biggest customer is the US, they sell more cars there than they do to either the UK or China.
The Beeb says JLR sold 116,294 cars to the US last year, making them one of the businesses that would be most heavily affected by tariffs suddenly making their cars look less appealing in the market.
However, they also report that the UK government is hopeful a trade deal can be struck before the tariffs kick in.
The US is targeting the world with all sorts of tariffs, which trade expert William Bain told LADbible would usher in a 'new age of uncertainty', but emphasised that despite the concerns businesses should 'keep calm and carry on exporting'.
He also pointed out that the real losers from Donald Trump's tariffs are the US public, as they'll be the ones expected to make up the difference or be shunted into having less choice of what to buy.
Topics: US News, UK News, Donald Trump, Cars, Money
Joe Harker