President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs are expected to ramp up prices on America’s best-selling mid-size truck.
The Toyota Tacomas are mainly assembled at a plant east of Tijuana.
According to at least one Goldman Sachs analyst, the trucks are, therefore, expected to see between a $5,000 to $15,000 price hike.
“I expect prices to go up probably in a few weeks,” a salesperson at the Toyota Chula Vista dealership told KTLA. “It will also be more expensive for people to service and repair their cars since many parts come from Mexico and China.”
The salesperson added that while prices are not expected to immediately increase on existing stock, new deliveries will see price increases.
Management at the dealership, which lies a few miles north of the border, declined to comment.
Last week, Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on imported cars and light trucks, a move auto experts expect will stall production and raise prices.
While America’s top trading partners Mexico and Canada avoided fresh tariffs on Wednesday, they are still subject to separate tariff policies on auto exports as well as steel and aluminum.
The President’s Liberation Day announcement saw a minimum 10 percent tariff on foreign imports for all other countries, with some countries facing much higher duties.
Speaking to KTLA, the salesperson said the price of used cars is also likely to rise as buyers will look for cheaper alternatives to more expensive cars impacted by tariffs.
According to Reuters analysis, the new import tax on vehicles may disproportionately affect Trump’s working class and rural base.
However, in an interview with NBC News, Trump said he “couldn’t care less” if auto CEOs raise prices because “people are going to start buying American-made cars.”
"Clearly, there are going to be winners and losers... Companies that have invested hundreds of millions and billions of dollars on plants in Canada and Mexico will likely see their profits cut dramatically over the next few quarters, if not into a couple of years,” AutoForecast Solutions analyst Sam Fiorani said.
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