+25% Trump on car tariffs: I couldnt care less if they raise prices Consumers will have to pay the price of the president's unnecessary trade war. Jonathan M. Gitlin Mar 31, 2025 9:09 am | 90 Credit: Getty Images Credit: Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreLate last week, President Donald Trump decided to upend the automotive industry by levying a new 25 percent import tariff on all imported cars, which goes into effect on April 2. An additional 25 percent tariff on car parts is set to go into effect within the next month, which promises to make US-made cars more expensive as well, as many parts and subassemblies used in domestic manufacturing come from suppliers in Canada or Mexico.During the election campaign (and in the years preceding it), Trump repeatedly claimed that the cost of tariffs would be borne by the exporters. But tariffs don't work that waythey're paid by the importer, at the time of import.The White House does not appear to have any concerns about this, despite a report in The Wall Street Journal last week claiming that Trump had warned automakers not to pass the costs on to their customers.Relying on only anonymous sources, the WSJ quoted "people with knowledge of the call," saying that the president told them to be grateful for eliminating a so-called EV mandatereally just tougher emissions and fuel economy standards that Trump and his party opposeand then followed that with "a lengthy pitch for how they would actually benefit from tariffs."However, those claims were directly contradicted by Trump this weekend."No, I never said that. I couldn't care less if they raise prices, because people are going to start buying American-made cars," Trump told an NBC interviewer."The message is congratulations, if you make your car in the United States, youre going to make a lot of money. If you dont, youre going to have to probably come to the United States, because if you make your car in the United States, there is no tariff," Trump said, apparently unaware that even the Teslas built by his benefactor Elon Musk in Texas and California contain a significant percentage of parts made in Mexico and Canada, parts that will cost 25 percent more as of next month.Trump also told NBC that his tariffs will be permanent, although in the past we have seen the president flip-flop on such matters. Analysts are still trying to reach consensus on how much the Trump tariff will add to the prices of domestic and imported cars, but expect prices to rise by thousands of dollars as automakers and dealerships try to preserve some of their profit margins.Jonathan M. GitlinAutomotive EditorJonathan M. GitlinAutomotive 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. 90 Comments