The grey cloud hovering over the car industry has lifted partially on evidence that US president Donald Trump can be persuaded to roll back his protectionist policies.
On Thursday, the UK announced that it had struck a wider deal with US that will include reduced import tariffs on cars, bringing relief to a beleaguered JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) in particular.
The announcement came a day after BMW confidently predicted that it expected the punitive 27.5% rate on cars to fall after 1 July, sounding a more optimistic note than other car makers the previous week.
The tariffs on all cars coming into the US has been in place since 3 April – one of the biggest of the multiple blows to car makers selling in the US since Trump decided to use drastic measures to bring back more manufacturing to his country.
Companies including the Volkswagen Group, Mercedes-Benz and General Motors warned of profit hits reaching into the billions.
However, the deal negotiated by UK prime minister Keir Starmer to reduce the tariff from 27.5% to a caveated 10% has shown that what looked like a permanent fixture can in fact be chipped away.
The UK deal came after BMW CEO Oliver Zipse struck a much more optimistic note about the tariffs during its earnings report on 7 May, following a series of gloomy communications from car companies including GM, Mercedes and Volkswagen.
“Our base assumption that these are temporary tariffs. There is no indication that they will be permanent,” Zipse told investors, without being specific about his information.
The tariffs applied to imported cars has been one of the biggest impacts to car makers, even those with production facilities in the country, like BMW.
It came on top of tariffs on imported car parts and tariffs on imported steel and aluminium.
Trump has been gradually softening his stance after experiencing blowback in the US from a worsening economy caused mainly by the tariff turmoil.
Businesses including the car industry have been uncertain how to respond to the changes, with many cutting costs and reducing production output after warning about the dangers of a wholesale shift in strategy.
Concessions made by Trump included handing car makers a tax relief of 3.75% when importing parts for cars built in the US.
Add your comment