Trump’s New Tariff on Trucks Could Burden an Already Struggling Industry

Companies involved in transporting goods into and around the United States are bracing for another tariff — this time on trucks.

President Trump is planning to impose a 25 percent tariff on medium- and heavy-duty trucks and truck parts on Nov. 1. The Trump administration has released almost no details, creating confusion among truck makers and truckers and prompting much lobbying to try to shape the final policy.

If few exemptions are granted, industry analysts say, the tariff could raise the cost of manufacturing trucks and repairing old ones.

Mr. Trump is imposing the tariff under a national security provision, known as Section 232, that he has also used to tax imports of steel, aluminum, cars, medical devices and lumber.

“We need our Truckers to be financially healthy and strong, for many reasons, but above all else, for National Security purposes!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social last month. The tariff was originally meant to take effect on Oct. 1.

Prior Trump tariffs have already had an impact on trucking, sometimes negative.

Steel and aluminum tariffs have pushed up the cost of the metals for truck makers like Daimler Truck, which makes Freightliner rigs. Daimler said in its most recent quarterly earnings report that “uncertainties resulting from U.S. tariff policy” had contributed to a steep decline in sales.

Trucking companies were buying fewer vehicles even before Mr. Trump’s latest trade war, and low shipping fees have been hurting their bottom lines. Tariffs on truck parts would be particularly painful, because trucking companies buy parts to extend the life of their vehicles, said Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting Group, which advises transport and logistical companies.

Mr. Jindel said he expected tough times to continue for trucking companies. “Their margins are going to suffer, which is not good for the companies or for shippers,” he said.

In announcing the tariffs, Mr. Trump said he was protecting American truck makers “from unfair outside competition.”

Around two-fifths of the trucks sold in the United States are imported, with most of those from Mexico, said Jason Miller, a supply chain professor at Michigan State University.

Paccar, which makes Peterbilt trucks, would not have much trouble moving the small portion it produces abroad to domestic plants, said Jonathan Sakraida, an analyst who covers the company for CFRA, an investment research firm.

“The upside is they’re able to shift production into the U.S., where they already have a massive manufacturing footprint,” Mr. Sakraida said.

Ken Hastings, a Paccar spokesman, did not respond when asked whether the company was planning to move production out of Mexico and Canada, where it has plants. He said Paccar hoped that the truck tariffs would “negate the current disadvantage that those of us who proudly manufacture trucks in the U.S. currently face.”

But trucks made in the United States may contain significant amounts of foreign parts, which may be hit by the tariff.

Ford Motor’s chief executive, Jim Farley, told CNBC last month that his company made all its heavy-duty trucks in the United States. But he added: “For the vehicles we do build in the United States, there are a lot of parts we don’t make in the U.S.”

The Volvo Group, which produces Mack trucks, makes all its trucks in the United States, said John Mies, a company spokesman.

“Like everyone in our industry, we have a global supply chain, so we do import parts,” he said. “We don’t yet know what the Nov. 1 tariffs will mean for parts imports by U.S. manufacturers.”