Trump Imposes Heavy Truck and Bus 232 Starting November 1

Oct. 17, 2025
By: David G. Forgue

Using another Friday evening news dump, the Trump Administration announced that it was imposing Section 232 duties on medium and heavy duty vehicles, parts of those vehicles, and buses. Medium and heavy trucks (“MHDVs”), as well as their parts (“MHDVPs”), will face 25% duties while buses will face a 10% duty. Annex I, which is very important, is here.

Reflecting the increasing intricacy of having multiple 232 cases potentially covering the same articles, this Section 232 case is complex. For instance, MHDVs qualifying for USMCA treatment will be able to pay 25% on only non-U.S. content (when a methodology is developed for that calculation). Parts qualifying for USMCA will also be duty free, although they will eventually be charged for non-U.S. content as well.

The proclamation includes a tariff offset program for domestic manufacturers (as predicted by the author, ahem). The intention of this program is to soften the impact of duty payments for imports for companies that do final assembly in the United States. In addition, for steel melted and poured in Canada or Mexico and for aluminum smelted and cast in Canada or Mexico used by domestic manufacturers and qualifying for USMCA treatment some imports will pay the 25% duty instead of steel or aluminum 50%. The details of the USMCA steel and aluminum break will require findings by the administration regarding expansions of manufacturing in the United States.

Finally, Japan and Europe will face only the 15% rate they negotiated rather than the new 232 duties. Of course, some of the covered provisions are already subject to the 25% duty from the 1962 Chicken Tax trade war, so those will remain 25%.

If you have any questions regarding the somehow increasingly complex tariff landscape do not hesitate to contact any attorney at Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, LLP.