Trump threatens car manufacturers with tariff increases again – These brands are in the firing line

President of the United States Donald Trump threatened on Monday on their own social media with an increase in customs duties. This time, the target was South Korea and, among other things, its automotive industry.

Trump is unhappy that South Korea has not yet accepted the trade agreement made in the summer with the United States.

Trump wants to raise tariffs not only on Korean cars, but also on medicines and lumber from 15% to 25%. At the time of writing, there was no information about the schedule for the possible entry into force of the increased tariffs. It remains to be seen whether the talks are a negotiating tactic this time, or whether the threats should be taken seriously.

Investors weren’t nervous at all: the customs talk only slightly dampened the Korean car manufacturer Hyundai Motorin share, but it quickly returned to its previous level. Hyundai is scheduled to report earnings on Thursday, January 29th.

After all, Trump didn’t threaten 100% tariffs like, for example, Canada. It may be because South Korea’s exports to the United States are CNN:n significantly large.

In 2024, South Korea exported 132 billion dollars, or about 109 billion euros worth of goods to the United States. The most important of them are precisely cars, car parts, semiconductors and electronics.

South Korea is one of the world’s most important car manufacturing countries. According to preliminary data, in 2025 the Korean Hyundai was the world’s third largest manufacturer of Japanese cars Toyota’s and German Volkswagen after.

In addition to its main brand of the same name, Hyundai manufactures Kia and Genesis. The annual production volume is more than seven million cars.

Hyundai also assembles its cars in the United States. However, there are plenty of models manufactured in South Korea sold in the country. Inside EV´s lists that they include at least Hyundai’s Sonata Hybrid, Tucson Hybrid, Kona Electric and Ioniq 5 N.

Kia’s models exported to the United States from South Korea are the Niro EV, Sportage Hybrid and Sorento plug-in hybrid.

Batteries for electric cars are also manufactured in South Korea, and from there they are supplied to several Western car manufacturers.

Western brands also use South Korean semiconductors and electronics in their cars, as well as tires produced in the country.