US trade tariffs have cost Stellantis £260m, so far
The Trump tariffs are making life difficult for car manufacturers with global operations who need to sell cars in the US
President Trump’s tariffs are starting to bite across the car industry, if the latest news from the owner of Citroen, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Fiat and Jeep is anything to go by. The multi-brand Stellantis group says that it’s in a 300m Euro (£260m) hole as a result of extra costs associated with importing cars to the US market.
The fall in revenue resulting from the tariffs contributed to a 2.3 billion Euro loss in the first half of 2025. But given that the measures were only imposed part of the way through that reporting period, worse could be still to come.
"We'll see significantly more in the second half unless things change," said Doug Ostermann, Stellantis Chief Financial Officer. “Given the current outlook, I would expect to see that figure probably double in the second half, or more.”
Stellantis revealed that shipments to North America declined by 25 per cent in the three months to June compared with the same period last year. The likes of Peugeot, Citroen and Vauxhall don’t have a presence in the US market, but Stellantis also owns Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge and Ram, as well as Alfa Romeo and Maserati, which do.
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The giant Stellantis group does manufacture cars in the US but has a total of 52 plants in other countries around the world - including in Europe, Canada and South America - that import vehicles to the US market. The global nature of the car industry means that there will be other brands in a similar boat, both those importing completed vehicles and those sending components to feed US factories - although Trump did take measures to lower tariffs on these components in April.
The UK arrived at a trade deal with the US government in May that lowered the 25 per cent tariffs on complete cars built here to 10 per cent, but this is still significantly higher than the previous tariff of 2.5 per cent.
There could be further problems for Stellantis if President Trump follows through on his threat to impose 50 per cent tariffs on Brazil. The group has a major manufacturing operation there producing Fiat and Jeep cars.
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