Trump’s 25 percent tariff could ‘level the playing field’ for Chinese brands insulated from the US market, analyst say.
The White House has argued the tariff is necessary to protect the US auto industry and strengthen the country’s industrial base and supply chains.
The US last year imported $475bn worth of auto parts, engines and vehicles, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, primarily from Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Canada.
China’s presence in the US auto industry has been limited since Trump launched his first trade war in 2018 and imposed tariffs on $380bn worth of Chinese goods.
Chinese-made “light vehicles” – cars, vans, and motorcycles – represented only 0.4 percent of light vehicle sales in the US in 2024, according to JATO Dynamics, an automotive market research firm.
This limited presence is largely due to low brand recognition in the US for Chinese automakers and a 100 percent tariff imposed last year by former US President Joe Biden.
