Automotive News recently posted a story (subscription required) with a list of final assembly for all vehicles sold in the U.S. According to the Trump tariffs that went into effect on April 3, vehicles built outside of the U.S. and brought in require importers to pay a 25% tax on the vehicles’ value. While that seems cut and dried on the surface, there are a lot of American automakers that build vehicles in Canada or Mexico, but use a lot of parts made in the U.S.
Because of the Chicken Tax, there’s only one truck currently sold in the U.S. that isn’t built in North America: the Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster. So, that truck would be subject to the full 25% tariff. However, trucks that meet the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade rules will only pay tariffs on the non-U.S. content.
While figuring out exactly which content came from where could be a bit murky, we can make some blanket statements about which trucks will be subject to at least some kind of Trump tariffs.
Trucks built in the U.S.
Taking parts that are built outside of the U.S. and put into trucks assembled inside the U.S. out of the conversation, trucks built here generally won’t be subject to Trump tariffs. Those trucks include: Ford F-Series, Ford Ranger, Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, GMC Hummer Pickup, Honda Ridgeline, Hyundai Santa Cruz, Nissan Frontier, Rivian R1T, Jeep Gladiator, Tesla Cybertruck, Toyota Tundra.
You may have noticed I left a few big-name trucks that you think are built in the U.S. off the above list, and that’s because some of them are built in the U.S., but some are built in Canada and Mexico as well. And you could see trucks built in all three countries on the same dealer lot. So, trucks that may or may not be subject to some kind of tariff depending on final assembly include the Chevrolet Silverado (which is built in U.S, Canada and Mexico), the GMC Sierra (which is built in U.S. and Mexico) and the Ram pickup trucks (which are built in U.S. and Mexico).
General Motors has said it will boost truck production at its Indiana plant, but it’s unclear exactly what that means and how many trucks will still be built in Canada and Mexico.
Trucks that get the 25% Trump tariffs
Outside of the Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra and Ram pickup trucks, there are a couple trucks built just across the border that were previously not subject to tariffs but now will be. Other than Silverado, we don’t have any pickups assembled in Canada. Those assembled in Mexico include: Ford Maverick and Toyota Tacoma.
Our take
Because most automakers had a supply of trucks on lots that were built pre-April 3, we haven’t really seen the true effect of Trump tariffs just yet. Though no automaker has specifically laid out a plan for how the tariffs will be distributed among their products, the general thought seems to be that prices will go up across the board on all products so that one product specifically isn’t disproportionately affected.
Plus, with the murkiness of which parts come from where, there are going to be tariffs on things like engines and transmissions that will also figure into the overall truck prices. With the average price of a full-size pickup truck hitting $58,689 in 2025, we just hope this doesn’t push truck prices over the $60k mark, but it probably will.
We’ll be keeping an eye on truck prices and the effects of tariffs, so stay tuned for more information when we have it.
