“Widespread negative consequences” for US trucking sector from tariffs, says ATA
Truck makers including Daimler Truck, Paccar, Traton and Volvo Group, are cautiously assessing the impact of a 25% Section 232 tariff on heavy truck imports that the US is imposing from October 1, 2025, but the American Trucking Associations (ATA) has been more direct in its response to the tariffs,
The ATA, which represents 37,000 trucking-related businesses in the US, is asking the US Department of Commerce to not implement new tariffs on heavy-duty trucks and parts, and to provide relief to the sector by lifting the IEEPA tariffs and Section 232 steel and aluminium tariffs.
The truck import tariff is being applied following an investigation launched by the US Department of Commerce in April this year to determine how imports of medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty trucks, as well as medium- and heavy-duty truck parts, and their derivative products, affect national security in the US.
Daimler Truck and Traton said they were looking at the details of the new tariff before making any detailed response. A spokesperson for Paccar said that the company is looking forward to reviewing the details of the tariff announcement as they become available. “We hope that this medium-duty and heavy-duty truck 232 will negate the current disadvantage that those of us that proudly manufacture trucks in the US currently face,” said the spokesperson.
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In a response to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Federal Register Notice of April 25, 2025, which requested public comments to inform the investigation, Stellantis pointed to US International Trade Commission data which showed that out of 1m registrations of medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the US in 2024, only 121,125 were vehicles greater than the Class 3+, which meant that roughly 88% of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles registered in the US were assembled domestically.
Stellantis, which makes medium-duty trucks in Mexico, also said that current US truck assembly capacity for the largest categories by volume of medium-duty trucks exceeds current and future US demand. “Existing manufacturing capacity could assemble roughly an additional 150,000 Class 3-5 trucks without significant capacity expansion. This figure exceeds current imports for all trucks larger than Class 3,” said the vehicle maker.
Flood of complaints
The ATA has made clear that the application of a Section 232 tariff has “widespread negative consequences” for US truckers. The ATA represents 37,000 trucking companies, and suppliers of equipment and services of various sizes, including small, medium and large carriers.
In a social media post on September 25 US president Donald Trump said that truck tariffs were being applied because of “the large-scale flooding of these products into the United States by other outside countries”. Trump also announced levies on drugs (100%) and kitchen and bathroom cabinets (50%).
However, the ATA made clear in a letter sent to the US Department of Commerce in April that heavy-duty, Class 8 trucks used in the US are either made there already or come from Mexico, which is a partner in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade (USMCA). In the letter the ATA said it is opposed to the investigation and does not believe that the import of heavy-duty trucks or their parts poses a national security threat and is already tightly integrated. ATA members primarily use heavy-duty trucks.
“Per the USMCA, heavy-duty trucks are already required to have 64% North American regional content, with that percentage increasing to 70% by 2027,” said Bob Costello, senior vice-president, international trade & security policy at the ATA in his response to the BIS Federal Register Notice for public response. “Today, it is ATA’s understanding that roughly 60% of all the Class 8 trucks bought in the United States are produced or undergo final assembly in the US, with the remaining 40% undergoing final assembly in Mexico.”
The ATA added that even when a truck is assembled in Mexico, major components, such as engines and transmissions, often come from factories in the US.
In its own response to the BIS Federal Notice, Mexico’s National Association of Buses, Trucks and Tractor Trailer Manufacturers (Anpact) said that the USMCA’s enforceable rules of origin related to medium- and heavy-duty trucks and their parts, effectively addresses any national security concerns by reducing reliance on non-USMCA sources. Section 232 tariffs on trucks and parts that comply with USMCA runs counter to the objective, according to the association.
“Far from enhancing national security, such measures would severely disrupt the high level of integration, regulatory alignment and supply chain reliability that define the North American medium- and heavy-duty truck industry – ultimately harming economic stability and competitiveness across the entire region,” said Jaime Rogelio Arzate Tapia, executive president of Anpact.
Cost pressure on truckers
The ATA estimates that if a 25% tariff was applied to imported heavy-duty Class 8 tractors from Mexico, with no rebates for US or USMCA content, the price of that tractor could increase by $30,000 or more. That comes at a time when the price of Class 8 tractors already increased significantly.
According to analysis from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) the average price of those trucks had jumped 21% from roughly $140,000 to $170,000 between 2021 and 2023. Given that most trucking companies operate on very thin profit margins, they have “an extremely limited ability to absorb higher prices”.
At the same time, commercial vehicle operators are not able to easily pass along additional tariff-related costs to their customers, according to the ATA, because trucking is a highly competitive low-margin business with hundreds of thousands of participants.
Combined with the impact of a two-year trucking recession following Covid-19, the ATA said that fleets will be faced “with no other option but to drastically reduce truck buying by extending trade cycles” and that would lead to “a large drop in truck manufacturing in the US and Mexico, as well as a corresponding drop in manufacturing of parts for new trucks”.
