11:17 am, June 9, 2025
UK ministers may have to choose the car makers who will be spared the 25% US tariff, according to news reports.
The Times published this weekend that ‘sources familiar with negotiations’ had revealed that with the allocation allowing only 100,000 vehicles to pay the lower 10% tariff rate, ministers may have to choose who benefits.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show that last year 101,000 vehicles were imported to the US from the UK, meaning it may seem that only 1% would be over the threshold.
However, Jaguar Land Rover figures show that exports to the US were up 31% in the year to March 2025. The British brand exported 84,242 cars to the US last year and a further increase could see more over the limit or car makers reducing exports to only pay the lower rate.
The Trump ‘liberation day tariffs’ were imposed in March but on May 8 the announcement was made that the UK and US had negotiated a lower deal.
However, what is dubbed the UK-US Prosperity Deal, is still yet to be finalised and the reduction won’t be activated until the point it is.
British negotiators are pushing for the rate to be backdated to when the announcement was made, and the decision to restart exports by JLR hints this may happen.
US exports made up 30 per cent of the Coventry-based car maker sales, meaning now it is its biggest market.
However, Aston Martin, Bentley, Mini and Rolls-Royce all also British made cars that have been popular in the US.
The Times reports, a spokesperson for the business department commented: ‘We are working with the US as they undertake their necessary preparations to introduce new bespoke quotas for UK steel, aluminium and car exports — which will save thousands of jobs in the UK.
‘We are also working with industry to ensure we get this right.’
