(NEXSTAR) – With carmakers and customers alike bracing for President Trump’s 25% tariff on imported cars and parts, you may be wondering just which car is the most American-made.
Getting a definitive answer isn’t easy, considering that even American mainstays such as Ford and Chevrolet rely, like other U.S. cars, on parts that are sourced globally.
An annual ranking by Cars.com does just that, using factors that include the location of final assembly; the source of the engines, transmission and other parts; and the ration of U.S. employees to the automaker’s footprint.
While no cars are entirely built in the U.S. of strictly American parts, some depend far more than others on international sourcing and assembly.
See the 2024 Top 10 most-American cars, according to the 19th annual Cars.com ranking:
RankBrandVehicle NameStyle1.TeslaModel YSUV2.HondaPassportSUV3.VolkswagenID.4SUV4.TeslaModel SSedan5.HondaOdysseyMinivan6.HondaRidgelinePickup Truck7.ToyotaCamrySedan8.JeepGladiatorPickup Truck9.TeslaModel XSUV10.LexusTXSUV(Cars.com)
Trump tariff looms
The White House has described the planned tariff as a potential windfall for U.S. manufacturers and a source of American jobs, but economists and industry experts aren’t convinced.
The Trump administration’s hopes for tariffs on both imported vehicles and parts will cause financial pain to the American consumer, experts say – even for those content with the vehicle they already own.
With car buyers just a few years removed from the pandemic and its dramatic price increase, noted economist Arthur Laffer warns that the planned 25% tariff could cause more sticker shock. Laffer estimated in a 21-page analysis that Trump’s protectionist move could add $4,711 on average to the cost of buying a vehicle.
“Without this exemption, the proposed tariff risks causing irreparable damage to the industry, contradicting the administration’s goals of strengthening U.S. manufacturing and economic stability,” wrote Laffer, in his analysis.
Laffer, whom Trump has praised in the past, warned that the tariff could devastate the U.S. auto industry by shrinking or potentially eliminating profit margins, while also sabotaging carmakers’ ability to compete with international manufacturers.
Americans who already own a vehicle and aren’t shopping around aren’t immune to potential price hikes, experts warn.
“Most replacement parts these days – especially if you’re going to a non-dealer body shop or mechanic – most of that stuff comes from China and Mexico,” Joseph Yoon, a consumer insights analyst with Edmunds.com, told Nexstar. “Having that baked into already elevated repair prices, paired with insurance rates that seem to be arbitrarily going up, there’s a lot of ripple effects across the whole ownership experience, not just car buying, whether new or used.”
Higher replacement and repair costs put pressure on insurance companies, who may raise policies to keep up.
While consumers and dealers may be bracing for the tariff rollout, there is at least one major group that is fully in favor.
The United Auto Workers union says it has given its full support for the administration’s “aggressive” action to shake up trade deals.
“We want to see corporate America, from the auto industry and beyond, recommit to the working class that makes the products and generates the profits that keep this country running,” the union wrote in a statement in early March.
