Go buy that Bentley now
Trump cuts tariff on UK cars; American carmakers not happy about it
The UK is allowed to export 100,000 cars a year to the US at the lower rate.
Jonathan M. Gitlin
–
May 9, 2025 10:12 am
|
21
Credit:
Getty Images
Credit:
Getty Images
Text
settings
Story text
Size
Small
Standard
Large
Width
*
Standard
Wide
Links
Standard
Orange
* Subscribers only
Learn more
Minimize to nav
The British car industry got a big break from US President Donald Trump yesterday afternoon. Trump and UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer have agreed to a bilateral trade agreement that cuts tariffs on a range of imports from the UK, including pharmaceuticals, aluminum and steel, and cars.
Now, the first 100,000 cars that come to the US from the UK will only be subject to a 10 percent tariff rather than the 27.5 percent they have been under since the start of this trade war in April.
"The car industry is vital to the UK’s economic prosperity, sustaining 250,000 jobs," said Jaguar Land Rover CEO Adrian Mardell. "We warmly welcome this deal which secures greater certainty for our sector and the communities it supports. We would like to thank the UK and US Governments for agreeing this deal at pace and look forward to continued engagement over the coming months," Mardell said.
As it turns out, 100,000 is almost as many cars as the UK exported to the US last year—about 102,000 last year. Not every car that wears a British brand's name is made there, but Aston Martin, Bentley, Jaguar Land Rover, McLaren, Mini, and Rolls-Royce all manufacture cars in the UK.
But according to Automotive News Europe, car imports from the UK have increased by 39 percent since 2022, and it's quite possible that those imports will exceed the new quota this year.
Not everyone is as pleased as the UK car industry, however. The big three in Detroit—Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis—are upset that mostly luxury cars from Britain get a break while they have no relief on the cars they build abroad for sale here in the US.
"We are disappointed that the administration prioritized the UK ahead of our North American partners. Under this deal, it will now be cheaper to import a UK vehicle with very little US content than a USMCA compliant vehicle from Mexico or Canada that is half American parts. This hurts American automakers, suppliers, and auto workers," said Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents Ford, GM, and Stellantis.
Worse yet, American automakers fear this is just the start of things to come. "We hope this preferential access for UK vehicles over North American ones does not set a precedent for future negotiations with Asian and European competitors," Blunt said.
Jonathan M. Gitlin
Automotive Editor
Jonathan M. Gitlin
Automotive Editor
Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.
21 Comments
Exhibit your startup at TechCrunch Sessions: AI while you still can! do sex
Google rolls out AI tools to protect Chrome users against scams do sex
Instagram Threads is getting video ads do sex
Meta taps former Google DeepMind director to lead its AI research lab do sex
