Since President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on imported automobiles, parts, and raw materials earlier this year, Ford has expressed some mixed emotions regarding those levies. On one hand, Ford has a large domestic manufacturing footprint, giving it an advantage over rivals that don't, but it - along with more than one trade group - has also expressed a need for those tariffs to be distributed a bit more predictably, too. Regardless, tariffs still cost Ford $800 million in Q2 2025 alone, though some relief may soon be on the way.
According to Reuters, Trump is now mulling the idea of providing "significant tariff relief for U.S. auto production" that may eliminate much of the costs that automakers are currently doling out. "The signal to the car companies around the world is look you have final assembly in the US: we're going to reward you," said U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno. "For Ford, Toyota, Honda, Tesla, GM, those are the almost in order the top five domestic content vehicle producers - they'll be immune to tariffs."
Back in June, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that it planned to roll out an adjustment offset for imported vehicles that's equal to 3.75 percent of the suggested retail price for eligible vehicles assembled in the U.S. That would last through April 2026, after which it was slated to go down to 2.5 percent for another year, all in an effort to help automakers switch up their supply chains and procure more domestic parts, as well as shift production.
Now, Trump is reportedly considering keeping that offset at 3.75 percent and extending it to five years, all while also applying it to U.S.-based engine production, according to Moreno. Regardless, nothing is set in stone at the moment. "It's obviously up to the president, but absolutely thrilled that we're creating now an incentive system that really separates these importers only versus the ones that are manufacturing in America," Moreno said.
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