American cars buyers against the Trump Automatic Rate Deadline

For two years, Jeannie Dillard has saved what he can in his fixed income to replace the vehicle that was stolen from his house and found totalized a few miles away.

He looked around a car dealership used in Virginia on Thursday, looking at the prices of stickers with a new concern: general tariffs on cars and foreign car parts that experts warn that prices could increase in the US. UU. They enter next week.

He would like to buy a car now, he said, but: “I have to wait until my finances improve.”

Mrs. Dillard is among the large number of Americans who prepare for the expected economic turbulence under the automobile tariffs of President Donald Trump, an unprecedented commercial policy maneuver of the United States.

“It took me a long time to save for the last car,” he said. “If prices get too high, I am obviously not going to buy something I can’t pay.”

“We will only have to wait and see.”

On Wednesday, Trump announced new 25% import taxes in cars and pieces of cars entering the US. UU. From abroad that enter into force on April 2.

Charges for companies that import vehicles on April 3 are expected, and taxes on the pieces will begin in May or later.

Trump and the members of his administration have argued that tariffs will lead to “tremendous growth” and jobs will increase in the United States.

But experts and car manufacturers have warned in terrible terms that tariffs could increase the prices of US consumers, amplifying the stress of an already slow economy.

Mohamad Husseini, co -owner of a car dealership used in Maryland, said he hopes that additional tariff costs will be transferred to the consumer.

“Prices in the wholesale market have already triggered,” he told the BBC.

“It will get worse.”

A car that would be sold for $ 13,000 (£ 10,000) could increase to $ 14,500 (£ 11,200) due to rates, Husseini said. He predicts that consumers will see prices increase in the next three to six weeks.

Automatic tariffs will probably force car merchants such as Mr. Husseini to increase prices.

“We all still have invoices to pay, mouths to feed and employees to pay,” he said.

In another car dealership, Robin Sloan hoped to reach an agreement before prices increased.

She said she would probably have waited until summer to go shopping in cars, but “with tariffs, I decided that I should leave and look now.”

He rejected the Trump administration statement that tariffs will make Americans buy cars instead of foreigners.

“I don’t think I would buy a car made in the United States just at rates, I think I would probably wait a few years until things calm down,” he explained.

From cars buyers to car merchants, the effects of tariffs will be very widespread, for better or worse, experts say.

In the United States, there are 908 motor vehicles per 1,000 people. About 92% of households have a vehicle.

Automobile property is usually higher in the US.

They are also more than a means of transport. As symbols of freedom and success, cars have a unique place in national identity, from the Pimp My Ride program to Janice Joplin singing “Oh, Lord, will you not buy me a Mercedes Benz”?

John Heitmann, a car professor and historian at Dayton University who, in his free time, likes to polish his 1982 Mercedes SL, said tariffs will have an existential and economic impact.

“New cars are really out of the reach of a good number of Americans to start,” he told the BBC. “Consumers will not benefit, prices will increase,” particularly among the most affordable vehicles made in Korea, such as Hyundais, he said.

As a vintage car enthusiast, he said that tariffs have added a layer of uncertainty to their hobby.

“About 50 minutes ago, I received an email from a partial supplier in the United Kingdom saying: ‘Don’t worry … they won’t go up,” “he said.

“‘We haven’t seen anything in writing yet.’ That’s what they said.”

Vehicles imported from high -end, such as Audis, BMWS and Mercedes, will also increase in price, said Heitmann, although many of those who buy such brands could absorb a more considerable price.

TO Study 2024 conducted by the United States International Trade Commission He predicted that a 25%tariff on imports would reduce imports by almost 75%, while increasing the average prices in the US. UU. By approximately 5%.

The United States imported around eight million cars last year, representing around $ 240 billion (£ 186 billion) in commerce and approximately half of the general sales.

Despite the efforts of some automobile manufacturers, including Ford and General Motors, to discourage Trump to promulgate automobile tariffs, the president is moving forward.

However, some car manufacturers are adopting Trump rates.

On Tuesday, Hyundai, the South Korean car score, announced that it would invest $ 21 billion (£ 16.3 billion) in the US. UU. When building a new steel plant in Louisiana.

Trump said the measure is a “clear manifestation that tariffs work very strongly.”

But tariffs are likely to also affect national cars. The manufacture of American cars has been deeply intertwined with industries in Canada and Mexico for decades. The pieces cross the borders several times before assembling, which means that even a vehicle as iconically American as a Ford truck could see an increase in the price of the sticker.

Ultimately, Trump’s rate strategy will push the automotive industry to an unknown territory, leaving uncertainty about consumers, dealers and car manufacturers until they enter into force on Wednesday.

“Everything is Topsy Turvy now, you know, and it is also terribly full of uncertainty, because nobody knows exactly what kind of game is really playing by the Trump administration related to all the waves of these rates,” said Heitmann.

Some, like My Fountain-Bunch, just want to overcome concern. He took his car to a concessionaire this week to avoid needing a replacement after the tariffs hit.

“(I’m) making sure that my car is working and I hope I don’t have to buy another car in the coming years, or at least in the next four years until this administration ends.”

Meiying Wu contributed to this report.