Companies have increased tariff payments on auto parts imported to the United States from Mexico and Canada.
Of the total of these foreign purchases to the United States from its two main trading partners, 7.5% entered with tariff payments in 2018 and that ratio escalated to 20.5% in 2023.
Automotive tariffs
Year-over-year, the trend went like this, according to the U.S. Trade Representation (USTR):
- 2018: 7.5 percent.
- 2019: 9.3 percent.
- 2020: 15 percent.
- 2021: 17 percent.
- 2022: 19.2 percent.
- 2023: 20.5 percent.
Auto parts imported
The automotive sector is one of the most integrated in North American value chains.
In 2023, the United States imported $76.982 billion worth of automotive parts from Mexico and $19.933 billion from Canada.
Together, Mexico and Canada accounted for 52.5% of total U.S. auto parts imports that year.
Among the products most exported from Mexico were body parts, diesel engines and steering wheels.
As for the percentage of vehicles for which tariffs were paid to enter the United States, this increased from 0.2 percent in 2018 to 8.2 percent in 2023, with the following trend:
- 2018: 0.2 percent.
- 2019: 0.5 percent.
- 2020: 2.6 percent.
- 2021: 5.8 percent.
- 2022: 7.8 percent.
- 2023: 8.2 percent.
Since 2020, the global economy and the automotive industry have faced major challenges. These include macroeconomic events that have generated difficult conditions. For example, shortages of semiconductor chips and other components have been a key problem.
Also, high levels of inflation in raw materials and labor have complicated the situation. This is compounded by higher interest rates and labor and energy shortages in some markets.
From the third quarter of 2023 through the fourth quarter of 2023, the automotive industry experienced labor strikes and other disruptions in several U.S. plants. These events had a negative impact on the sector during that period.