China retaliates in kind against U.S. vehicle tariffs

As you have probably heard by now, U.S. President Donald Trump slapped all Chinese car imports with an extra 10% tariff. In a surprising twist of events, China realized it could do the same.

Irony aside, the country started by filing a formal complaint about the tariffs to the WTO. When that didn’t go anywhere, it enacted a symmetrical 10% fee on all U.S. import vehicles with 2.5 or more liters of displacement. That comes to 25% if you count the existing 15% tax.

According to the car market analysts, the United States shipped $3.1 billion worth of cars to China in 2024. The high tariffs will hurt not only companies like Ford and General Motors, but also automakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, who produce some of their vehicles in the USA.