Tariff-wary buyers scoop up vehicles ‘before the storm’ hits car prices
Consumers are hitting the gas on car purchases to head off expected price hikes from Trump’s new tariffs, which threaten to reverse recent momentum in auto sales.
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Consumers are hitting the gas on car purchases to head off expected price hikes from the Trump administration’s new tariffs, which threaten to reverse recent momentum in auto sales.
Major automakers, including Detroit-based General Motors and South Korea’s Hyundai, reported robust double-digit U.S. sales growth in the first quarter. Japanese brands Nissan, Toyota and Honda each reported more modest gains, while Jeep-maker Stellantis and Ford saw declines.
President Donald Trump announced last week that he’s slapping all foreign vehicles with a 25% tariff starting at 12:01 a.m. ET on Thursday, with imported auto parts facing the same levies no later than May 3. The president told NBC News last weekend that he “couldn’t care less” if automakers raise prices as a result. And on Wednesday afternoon, he’s set to open a vast new front in his ongoing trade war, with reciprocal tariffs aimed at equalizing trade barriers around the world, potentially on “all countries.”
News of Trump’s dizzying range of import taxes has piled up for months ahead of his auto tariffs rollout, spurring some shoppers to head to dealership lots before sticker prices rise.
Nadia Pierre-Toussaint swung by Millennium Honda in Hempstead, New York, on Tuesday after her mother advised her to buy sooner than later — and walked out with keys to a new Honda HR-V.
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