U.S. Tariffs on Autos and parts Increase to 25% effective April 3

  • ClientAdvisories.EffectiveDate: March 27, 2025
  • ClientAdvisories.AffectedRegions: North America | Europe & UK | Latin America | Asia | South Asia | Africa | Middle East | Oceania
  • ClientAdvisories.AdvisoryType: Tariff
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Dear Valued Customer,

On March 26, 2025, the White House issued a proclamation under the authority of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose a 25% tariff on imports of automobiles and certain automobile parts.  The notice confirms this additional tariff is effective as of 12:01 a.m. eastern time on April 3, 2025, for automobiles and on the date specified in the Federal Register for the automobile parts, but no later than May 3, 2025.

What products are affected?

  • Passenger vehicles (sedans, SUVs, crossovers, minivans, cargo vans) and light trucks
  • Automobile parts (engines, transmissions, powertrain parts, and electrical components)
  • United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) qualified automobile imports
    • Importers will be able to certify their U.S. content and systems will be implemented to apply the 25% import duty only to the value of the non-U.S. content.
    • USMCA qualified auto parts will remain tariff free until a process to apply the tariffs to their non-U.S. content is established.
  • Products not affected:
    • Automobile knock-down kits or parts compilations

The proclamation warns that if the declared value of non-U.S. content of an automobile is inaccurate due to an overstatement of U.S. content, the 25 percent tariff will apply to the full value of the automobile, regardless of U.S. content.  Additionally, the 25 percent tariff would apply retroactively and prospectively to the full value of all automobiles of the same model imported by the same importer.

A Federal Register notice is pending with more specific details related to the HTSUS.  Within 90 days of this proclamation, a process will be established to expand the scope of additional automobile parts.

Drawback is not available for these additional duties.

Resources:

Thank you for being a Valued Customer.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your C. H. Robinson commercial representative for further information.

Sincerely,

C. H. Robinson