11:48 am, April 2, 2025
As many as 25,000 automotive industry jobs could be axed as a result of Donald Trump’s planned import tariffs.
That is according to analysis from the Institute For Public Policy Research (IPPR), which says that the measures have the potential to ‘completely destabilise the UK car manufacturing industry’.
The research company has been analysing the potential impact of the proposed 25% charges and looking into which brands could be the worst hit.
Experts found that employees at JLR and Mini are some of the most exposed in the industry.
According to recent SMMT data, the US is the UK’s second largest export market after the European Union, with some 16.9% of car exports heading over the Atlantic to the states.
That figure represents a total of more than 101,000 units worth an eye-watering £7.6bn.
In response to the measures, the IIPR says that the UK now needs to build on its ‘niche’ of manufacturing ‘green planes, trains and automobiles’.
The think tank added that ‘doubling down’ on zero or low emission transport products is currently the only way to secure automotive jobs in the future.
It added that tens of thousands of jobs could be lost as a result of the new tariffs and called on the government to introduce additional incentives for domestic-made electric cars.
IPPR research fellow Pranesh Narayanan said: ‘Trump’s tariffs have huge potential to completely destabilise the UK car manufacturing industry, affecting tens of thousands of jobs and putting the Government’s growth plans at jeopardy.
‘However, as one door closes another one opens.
‘There is huge untapped potential in manufacturing green planes, trains and automobiles and selling them at home and abroad.
‘If the Government use the upcoming industrial strategy to drive investment in these sectors, this could be the spark that leads to thousands of new consumers to start buying British and buying green.’
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told Sky News that businesses want a ‘calm and collected response’ to US tariffs, and ‘nobody wants to see a trade war’.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the channel it was his ‘objective’ to have the tariffs reversed, but acknowledged he ‘can’t give a timescale on that’.
