United States President Donald Trump said Monday that all medium and heavy-duty trucks entering the U.S. from other countries will face a 25% tariff starting Nov. 1.
The duty will have a significant impact on Mexico as the country is the largest exporter of medium and heavy-duty trucks to the United States.
Trump announced that the 25% tariff will take effect next month on his Truth Social account. He didn’t give any indication that trucks made in Mexico, or at least their U.S. content, will be exempt from the duty.
The U.S. content in cars made in Mexico is exempt from the 25% tariff the United States imposed in April, lowering the effective tariff on those vehicles to 15% on average. Under the USMCA free trade pact, medium and heavy-duty trucks are currently not subject to tariffs if at least 64% of their value originates in North America, Reuters reported.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that her government will aim to win an exemption from the United States’ planned tariff on medium and heavy-duty trucks. She said she would call Trump to discuss an agreement to stave off the duty “if it’s necessary.”
Trump initially said that a 25% tariff on heavy-duty trucks — but not medium-duty trucks — would take effect on Oct. 1.
New US tariff threatens Mexico’s automotive industry starting Oct. 1
“In order to protect our Great Heavy Truck Manufacturers from unfair outside competition, I will be imposing, as of October 1st, 2025, a 25% Tariff on all ‘Heavy (Big!) Trucks’ made in other parts of the World,” he wrote on Truth Social on Sept. 25.
“Therefore, our Great Large Truck Company Manufacturers, such as Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks, and others, will be protected from the onslaught of outside interruptions. We need our Truckers to be financially healthy and strong, for many reasons, but above all else, for National Security purposes!” Trump wrote.
Mexico’s truck exports to the US
According to the U.S. International Trade Administration (ITA), 62.7% of the medium and heavy-duty trucks the United States imported in 2024 came from Mexico.
Reuters reported that a study released in January said imports of those vehicles from Mexico “have tripled since 2019 to around 340,000 [annually] today, according to government statistics.”
Fourteen manufacturers and assemblers of buses, trucks and tractor trucks, and two manufacturers of engines have plants in Mexico, according to the ITA.
In the first seven months of this year, Mexico’s exports of trucks, buses and special purpose vehicles to the United States were worth US $25.86 billion, accounting for 80% of U.S. expenditure on imports of those vehicles, according to U.S. government data. The vast majority of Mexico’s truck exports go to the United States.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has urged the U.S. Commerce Department to not impose tariffs on trucks. It noted that Mexico, Canada, Japan, Germany, and Finland are the top source countries for truck imports and highlighted that all of those countries are “allies or close partners of the United States posing no threat to U.S. national security.”
With reports from La Jornada, Reuters, Reforma, EFE and N+
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