Trump tariff would make the Toyota Camry $1,800 more expensive to build
Toyota says the Camry will cost $ 1,800 more to make if the Trump administration goes through with an auto tariff.
Toyota did not say how much of the cost it would pass on to customers. But it called the possible tariff “just a tax on consumers” and said it would “increase the cost of every vehicle sold in the country.”
The tariff is under consideration by the Commerce Department. Toyota’s cost estimate was based on the threat of a 25% trade penalty on imported cars and parts.
Toyota makes the Camry, the nation’s best-selling sedan, in Georgetown, Kentucky. But only slightly more than half the parts come from the United States or Canada, according to an estimate by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. About 30% come from Japan.
A tariff on imported parts could also raise the price of domestic parts.
Related: Tariffs on European cars would hurt US auto jobs
The Commerce Department is investigating whether auto imports pose a national security threat, justifying a tariff.
“We believe the only plausible outcome of this investigation is to reject the notion that automotive imports threaten national security,” Toyota said in a statement.
Most cars sold in the United States by Toyota are built at US plants. That is true of most other Asian automakers as well, and major European automakers also have plants here. President Donald Trump has directed his attacks especially at cars imported from Europe.
“Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the U.S. and it great companies and workers by the European Union, if these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their cars coming into the U.S. Build them here!,” he tweeted last week.
Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the U.S. and it great companies and workers by the European Union, if these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their cars coming into the U.S. Build them here!
The Commerce Department is accepting comments on the possible tariff through the end of this week. Toyota’s statement was part of its official comment.
