President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on foreign cars and car parts could be another economic blow for Washington, which has recently emerged as one of the top automotive import hubs in the nation.

The tariffs, announced Wednesday and set to start April 3, would require U.S. importers to pay a 25% tax on imported cars and certain car parts.

Assuming they aren’t paused or modified, as has happened with some previous Trump tariffs, the new tariffs could dampen car sales by adding anywhere from $1,000 to $9,000 to prices for foreign cars and domestic cars built with foreign-made parts, according to estimates by Cox Automotive.

And that’s potentially bad news for the ports of Tacoma and Seattle, which have become major gateways for foreign car and parts makers.

“It’s super concerning,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner Sam Cho. “The auto business has been one of (the ports’) fastest growing lines of businesses.”

It’s also more potential economic pain for Washington’s very trade-dependent economy. Since the start of Trump’s second term, his combative trade and foreign policies have raised business risks to everything from Washington’s fruit exports and electronics manufacturing to its aerospace exports and tourist businesses that depend on Canadian visitors.

But the latest tariffs come just as the ports of Tacoma and Seattle were reaping the benefits of a major win in the global auto trade.

In 2022, Port officials persuaded Korea-based Hyundai Glovis, Hyundai’s in-house logistics operation, to consolidate its West Coast shipments through Tacoma, according to the Northwest Seaport Alliance, which oversees marine cargo operations at both ports.

Largely as a result, auto imports rose to nearly 340,000 units in both 2023 and 2024, or more than double 2019 levels, according to alliance data.

Most of those new cars enter through Tacoma via massive “roll on, roll off” vessels that carry an average of 6,000 vehicles, with some overflow going to Seattle’s Pier 46. Cars by Kia, which is partly owned by Hyundai, have been imported though Tacoma since the 1990s.

Imported car parts, meanwhile, make up one of the largest fractions of containerized volumes at both ports, according to the alliance. Much of that is from Honda and Toyota and bound for Midwestern U.S. car factories.

Honda and Toyota “are critical customers,” said Andre Elmaleh, the alliance’s senior manager for noncontainer business development. With new tariffs on car parts, Elmaleh said, “what’s going to happen with those?”

Car imports alone generate around 2,500 direct jobs across the Seattle-Tacoma region, including in terminal operations, stevedoring and longshore, logistics, warehousing, and rail and truck transportation, according to alliance data.

At this point, Port officials don’t know how local import volumes will be affected by the new tariffs.

That’s partly because it’s unclear how long the new tariffs will be in effect, or whether Trump might temporarily suspend them, as he has with tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico.

Trump has said the tariffs are permanent.

Tong Zhu, the alliance’s chief commercial and strategy officer, said the ports “will do everything possible to support our customers,” but added that she is “hoping that this is just a negotiation tactic.”

Predictions are also complicated by the very different ways the tariffs will hit individual carmakers and importers, and how each company chooses to respond.

Some carmakers are heavily exposed: Many of Chevy’s top-selling models, such as the Silverado, are made in Mexico, according to industry reports.

The alliance said some foreign carmakers appear to have stepped up shipments recently in an effort to get inventory to U.S. dealers before the tariffs. On Saturday, a vessel full of cars is expected at Pier 46 in Seattle.

“It’s going to take a little time for us to fully appreciate the impacts,” Zhu said.

That appears to be the view at some Puget Sound-area car dealers.

“It’s kind of ‘wait and see,'” said Mitch Tramm, director of parts and service at Gilchrist Chevrolet Buick GMC in Tacoma.

Dealers are still trying to assess not only how serious Trump is about the new tariffs, but whether the administration grants exemptions for certain vehicles or parts categories, Tramm said.

Even when the picture gets clearer, dealers may not have a lot of options.

While some may have wanted to order extra vehicles ahead of the tariffs, there isn’t always a lot of surplus inventory sitting around.

Dealers may want to “see if they can squeak some in,” Tramm said, but “you can’t just order a ton of cars just because you want to.”

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