On August 23, China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced that as of December 15 this year it will resume 25 percent tariffs on cars and five percent duty on auto parts imported from the US. In April, Beijing had put a 25 percent duty on light vehicles from the US on hold as trade negotiations had restarted between the two countries at that time.
Among automakers, Ford Motor, Tesla and Germany’s Daimler and BMW Group (exporting cars from their US-based assets) will be hit by additional tariffs. "When these tariffs were initially imposed by China in 2017, American exports of finished vehicles dropped by 50 percent. We can’t let that happen to American workers again," said John Bozzella, CEO of the Association of Global Automakers, which represents Toyota Motor, Hyundai Motor and other foreign auto brands in the US. Cars imports ex-US totaled about 190,000 units last year.
The Chinese tariffs will not only hit US cars and auto parts but are also targeting more than 5,000 other goods with duties of 5-10 percent. Some of these trade measures will go into effect on September 1 and some on December 15 this year.