The extent of the harm inflicted on UK car exporters from US tariffs has been revealed, with shipments plunging by more than half last month according to industry figures.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said the number of UK-made cars heading across the Atlantic fell 55.4% during May following a decline of just under 3% the previous month.
The dramatic slowdown marked a reaction to the 25% tariffs imposed on imports by the Trump administration from 3 April amid the president’s “liberation day” trade war escalation which sparked chaos in global supply chains.
The move prompted Jaguar Land Rover – the biggest exporter of cars to the US from these shores – to suspend all shipments temporarily.
The US is the most important market for UK producers, in value terms, and was worth £9bn last year with the vast majority of those sales coming from luxury brands also including Bentley, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Aston Martin.
Tariffs on UK-made cars imported into the US have since been reduced from 25% to 10% for up to 100,000 vehicles on an annual basis.
That was signed off by the president 10 days ago.
While it spares UK producers from the worst, the US trade war does not represent the only challenge.
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Explained: The US-UK trade deal
The industry has been…
