site.btaTrump's Car Tariffs Are Good News for European Consumers, Automobile Import Expert Tells BTA

The tariffs that US President Donald Trump imposed on automobiles made in the EU are good news for European consumers, Lyubomir Dorosiev, Chair of the Executive Board of the Association of Automobile Importers in Bulgaria (ABA), commented to BTA's Veselina Yordanova on Thursday.

"New car exports from Europe to the US will be more expensive for Americans because they will pay the final tax in the form of a 25% higher customs duty. Now that European manufacturers will be unable to export cheaply to America, they will gradually cut new car prices in Europe and more specifically in Bulgaria, from my bystanders' point of view," he said further. 

Dorosiev recalled that during the COVID pandemic, new car manufacturers hiked prices by a whopping 60-70%, citing the scarcity of semiconductor chips, consumables and other inputs.

"On the whole, American cars are not that popular with European consumers," Dorosiev pointed out. "They are gas guzzlers, larger-size, geared to the American market and roads. Small cars of the type suitable for driving in the centre of European capitals like Sofia, Vienna and Paris are quite scarce in the US," the expert explained.

In his words, cars imported from the US to Bulgaria account for not more than 5% of this country's total road fleet.

More specifically, most of the US-made second-hand cars that are imported are dented or have other issues. They are in demand because they come at a low price, and some are bought to be repaired and resold, he has noticed, judging from practice.

Dorosiev said that the new tariffs may prove to be a "nine days' wonder." The expert assumes that the extra tax will needlessly push up the price of imports from the US, and this trade in Bulgaria may shrink or even cease altogether.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump unveiled a plan for further restrictions on imports to the US in the form of additional tariffs on all goods with the exception of steel, aluminium and cars, which are already subject to a 25% import tax. The tariff rate applicable to goods originating in the EU will be 20%.