Trumps auto tariffs could help Chinas carmakers, experts say | Automotive Industry News [Video]

China’s automakers could be among the surprising beneficiaries of United States President Donald Trump’s trade war as a 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles and auto parts takes effect on Thursday, analysts 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 …