European Auto Exporters Say Tariffs Stalling Business

European car exporters are wrestling with uncertainty surrounding American tariffs despite a recent trade deal.

That’s according to the CEO of Wallenius Wilhelmsen, operator of one of the world’s biggest car-carrier fleets, who discussed the issue in a Tuesday (Aug. 12) interview with Reuters.

The U.S. and European Union reached an accord last month that set a 15% tariff on U.S. imports on goods from Europe, vehicles included. Cars had at first been tariffed at 27.5%. President Donald Trump increased the duties this year.

Still, the new 15% rate has not yet been implemented for cars, which means that Wallenius customers like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo are still saddled with the higher rate. And with no executive order from Trump reducing tariffs on the auto industry, carmakers are eagerly awaiting possible last-minute changes.

“So far we actually do not know exactly what the tariff level will be. Our customers do not know either, so it is too early to say what they’ll do,” Wallenius CEO Lasse Kristoffersen told Reuters following the company’s quarterly results.

Car makers had scrambled to ship vehicles to the U.S. before the 27.5% tariffs kicked in, with the opposite thing happening as the second quarter began, Kristoffersen added

“We saw that they held more back in the start of the second quarter but that volumes increased throughout the quarter,” he said.

The news comes as tariff-related pressures are affecting consumers on this side of the Atlantic, as PYMNTS reported Tuesday.

New inflation data showed upticks in products ranging from personal care items to bedding to furniture to car parts, the last of which were up 2.9% year over year in July, the highest level since August 2023.

Recent research from Goldman Sachs, cited in a Bloomberg News report earlier this week, said consumers will soon start to feel even more pressure as companies hike prices.

Although American shoppers have — as of the end of June — absorbed around 22% of tariff costs, that figure is projected to jump to 67% should the newest levies follow in the path of earlier tariffs, the bank’s economists said.

Meanwhile, research by PYMNTS Intelligence has been following the effect of tariffs on consumers, finding that nearly a third of consumers had put off or canceled discretionary buys such as electronics, home décor, or even back-to-school supplies.

“Tariffs are no longer an abstract policy lever,” PYMNTS wrote last week. “They are a daily pain point at the checkout aisle. Retailers must brace for a consumer who is both price-sensitive and chronically unsure whether the product will even be on the shelf.”