Ana Faguy and Brandon Drennon
BBC News, Washington DC
Watch: American drivers react to Trump’s new automotive rate
For two years, Jeannie Dillard saved what she can on her fixed income to replace the vehicle that was stolen at home and found a few kilometers.
On Thursday, she looked around a used car dealer in Virginia, looking at the prices of the stickers with a new concern: the general prices on foreign cars and the automotive parts that experts warn could increase prices in the United States. They come into play next week.
She would like to buy a car now, she said, but: “I have to wait for my finances to improve”.
Ms. Dillard is part of the plethora of Americans who stop for the economic turbulence expected under the radical automotive rates of President Donald Trump – an unprecedented American trade policy maneuver.
“It took me a long time to save for the last car,” she said. “If prices become too high, I will obviously not buy something that I cannot afford.”
“We will just have to wait and see.”
Robin Marshall (left) lent his car to Jeannie Dillard, her “best best”, so that Dillard can buy a new car
Trump on Wednesday announced new 25% import taxes on cars and automotive parts entering the United States since the overseas territories that come into force on April 2.
The costs of companies’ import vehicles are expected on April 3, and parts on the parts should start in May or later.
Trump and members of his administration argued that prices will lead to “enormous growth” and increase jobs in the United States.
But experts and car manufacturers have warned in terrible terms that prices could increase prices for American consumers, by amplifying the stress of an already slow economy.
Mohamad Husseini, co -owner of a used automotive dealer in Maryland, said that he expects additional tariff costs to be transmitted to the consumer.
“Prices on the wholesale market have already soared,” he told the BBC.
“It will get worse.”
A car that would sell $ 13,000 (£ 10,000) could reach $ 14,500 (£ 11,200) due to prices, Husseini said. He predicts that consumers will see prices increase over the next three to six weeks.
Automobile prices will probably force car dealers like Mr. Husseini to increase prices.
“We all still have invoices to pay, the mouth to feed and the employees to pay,” he said.
At another car dealer Robin Sloan hoped to obtain an agreement before prices increased.
She said she would probably have waited in summer to shop in the car, but “with the prices, I decided that I had to go out and watch now”.
She rejected the statement of the Trump administration that prices will bring Americans to buy American cars instead of the foreigner.
“I don’t think I would buy a car made in the United States just because of the prices, I think I would probably wait a few years until things have settled,” she said.
Robin Sloan
From car buyers to car dealerships, the effects of prices will be widespread, for better or for worse, say the experts.
In the United States, there are 908 motor vehicles for 1,000 people. About 92% of households have a vehicle.
The possession of cars is generally higher in the United States than in Europe, according to surveys, in part because in the absence of extended public transport systems, many Americans have no choice of how they move.
They are also more than a simple means of transport. As a symbols of freedom and success, cars have a unique place in national identity, from Pimp My Ride to Janice Joplin, singing “Oh Lord, does not buy me a Mercedes Benz”.
John Heitmann, professor and automotive historian at Dayton University who, during his free time, likes to polish his Mercedes SL in 1982, said the prices will have an existential impact, as well as an economic impact.
“New cars are really out of reach of a good number of Americans to start,” he told the BBC. “Consumers will not benefit from it, prices will increase”, especially among the more affordable vehicles made in Korea, like the Hyundais, he said.
As a vintage car enthusiast, he said the prices added a layer of uncertainty to his hobby.
“About 50 minutes ago, I received an e-mail from a piece supplier in the United Kingdom saying:” Don’t worry … They will not go up, probably “,” he said.
“” We have not seen anything in writing yet. “That’s what they said.”
High -end imported vehicles, such as Audis, BMWS and Mercedes, will also increase the price, said Heitmann, although many of those who buy these brands could be able to absorb a higher price.
A study in 2024 of the United States International Commerce Commission predicted that a 25%rate on imports would reduce imports by almost 75%, while increasing average prices in the United States by around 5%.
The United States imported approximately eight million cars last year – representing approximately $ 240 billion (186 billion pounds sterling) and about half of the overall sales.
Despite the efforts of certain car manufacturers – including Ford and General Motors – to discourage Trump from promulgating car rates, the president takes front.
However, some car manufacturers adopt Trump’s prices.
On Tuesday, Hyundai, the South Korean car goalkeeper, announced that it would invest $ 21 billion (16.3 billion pounds sterling) in the United States by building a new steel plant in Louisiana.
Trump said this decision is a “clear demonstration that prices work very strongly”.
But prices are also likely to have an impact on domestic cars. American automotive manufacturing has been deeply linked to industries in Canada and Mexico for decades. The parts grow borders several times before they are assembled, which means that even a vehicle as iconically American as a Ford van could see an increase in the price of stickers.
Mya Fountain-Bunch
In the end, Trump’s pricing strategy goes to the automotive industry in unexplored territory, leaving the uncertainty suspended on consumers, dealers and car manufacturers until they come into force on Wednesday.
“Everything is Topsy Turvy now, you know, and it is also terribly filled with uncertainty, because no one knows exactly what type of game is really played by the Trump administration linked to all the boast of these prices,” Heitmann said.
Some, like Mya Fountain-Bunch, I just want to pass the discomfort. She took her car to a dealership this week to avoid needing a replacement after the prices.
“(I make sure that my car works and I hope that I will not have to buy another car in the coming years, or at least the next four years before this administration was over.”
Meiying Wu contributed to this report.
