According to CCTV News, the U.S. government began imposing a 25% tariff on imported cars in early April. This move has had a serious impact on the European automobile industry's exports to the United States. In Belgium’s largest port, Antwerp-Brugge,There is a large backlog of cars scheduled to be exported to the United States and cannot be shipped out to sea.
It is understood that the United States’ 25% tariff on imported cars has officially taken effect on April 3.Previously, the United States only levied a 2.5% tariff on cars from European origins, and now the tariff has reached 27.5%.
Affected by tariffs, the number of new cars shipped to the United States from the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in the first half of 2025 fell by 15.9% year-on-year.
In addition, the U.S. government recently announced that it will impose a 30% tariff on goods from EU countries starting from August 1, which has caused some automakers to temporarily suspend exports to the United States.
Alain Guillermin, President of the Belgian ICO Ro-Ro Transport Company: The US tariff policy has now brought some uncertainty to the market, or more than a few. Before August 1, car manufacturers will observe the development of the situation, so they will suspend exports for a period of time.
In fact, in addition to the EU being affected by U.S. import tariffs, Japan's automobile exports to the United States have also declined significantly.
Data recently released by Japan's Ministry of Finance showed that due to the sharp decline in Japan's automobile exports to the United States due to U.S. tariff policies, Japan's exports to the United States fell by 26.7% year-on-year in June, marking the third consecutive month of year-on-year decline.