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Aaron Baird, left, and Bobby Rosso, make a living by importing vintage Japanese cars, restoring them at their garage in Chelsea and reselling them. When Rosso learned about President Donald Trump’s plan to impose a 25% tariff on imported cars and parts, he said he was “immediately stressed.” Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald As the U.
S. readies for a 25% tariff on all imported cars and car parts to go into effect Thursday, members of Maine’s automobile industry are sounding the alarm, saying consumers will feel the pinch of higher prices within a few months. President Donald Trump says he is imposing auto tariffs to promote domestic manufacturing and beef up commercial support for American carmakers.
It’s one of several taxes the Trump administration has introduced on foreign products, including a sweeping plan announced Wednesday afternoon for a minimum 10% tax on all goods and steeper penalties for countries the administration says have treated the U.S. unfairly.
But several professionals in Maine’s automobile industry said the situation is too complex to be solved by tariffs alone. And in an age when U.S.
car manufacturers import their parts, in a state that’s heavily dependent on personal transportation and in a market in which used car prices mirror the cost of new models, consumers and industry members in Maine worry that the hammer is about to come down. Some in Maine believe everyone along the supply chain will take a hit — from manufacturers and dealers to drivers and mechanics. Adam Lee — head of Maine’s largest auto dealer, Lee Auto Malls — is one of those people.
“Does anybody win?” Lee said. “No.” Aaron Baird works on a 1990 Nissan Skyline Tuesday at Blunt Garage in Chelsea.
Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald There will be a buffer period when Maine dealers clear out the current, non-tariffed cars on their lots. But come June, Mainers will have to front the costs of an escalating trade war. Or they’ll keep trucking along in aging cars.
Or forgo them entirely. VEHICLE COSTS ALREADY HIGH America already imposes a 2.5% tariff on imported passenger cars.
The additional 25% tariff brings the total to 27.5%. That’s a change of several thousand dollars — from a tax of $900 to a tax of $9,900 on a new Subaru Crosstrek retailing at $36,000, for instance.
Mainers in need of vehicles have already been facing high costs. Americans spent an average $48,039 to buy a new car in February, and $55,273 to purchase new electric vehicles, according to monthly data from Kelley Blue Book. Adam Lee, chairman of Lee Auto Malls, with an electric vehicle in July 2021.
He says tariffs on imported cars and parts will not just affect people looking to buy a new car. “I don’t know of any car that doesn’t have imported parts,” he said. Anna Gouveia/Sun Journal In the used car market, only 8% of vehicles were priced under $20,000 in the Portland-Auburn region in 2023 , according to a study from iSeeCars.
In 2019, Mainers could find 47% of used cars for sale under that price point. Maine isn’t an outlier. But in a rural state with slim public transportation offerings, the need is dire.
According to a study by the John T. Gorman Foundation, 40,000 households in Maine do not have reliable access to a vehicle; 15,000 workers do not own a vehicle, 52,000 people live in households without enough vehicles to go around. NEW AND USED CARS TO BE AFFECTED Portland resident Brian Keller is very close to needing a new car.
He has a 2009 Hyundai sedan with around 100,000 miles on it. After putting $2,000 worth of work into the car last year, it’s doing OK — aside from a bit of rattling. But Keller knows the car is reaching the end of its life.
He was planning on holding out until he could afford a more affordable electric vehicle to prioritize making an environmentally friendly choice. Now, however, that plan has vanished. “It makes it hard to plan everything in terms of budget and timing,” Keller said.
“Everything feels more chaotic than it has in a long time.” Portland resident Brian Keller has spent the last year researching electric vehicles with the hope of upgrading his 2009 sedan soon. With auto tariffs set to go into effect Thursday, he feels it won’t be possible to buy one for the foreseeable future.
Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald Keller said he would explore options for a used EV instead. But Lee, head of Lee Auto Malls, said that buying a used car won’t make all that much of a difference. As new cars get more expensive, fewer people will be getting rid of what they currently have.
Lee anticipates there will be a shortage in Maine’s already challenged used-car market. And, in turn, he anticipates price hikes on those vehicles, too. Buying a car from a domestic manufacturer won’t save much money, either, according to Lee.
American brands like General Motors, Chrysler and Dodge might assemble cars in America. But, he said, “I don’t know of any car that doesn’t have imported parts.” According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration , just 15% of the parts that went into a Cadillac CT4, manufactured by General Motors, were built in America.
Bobby Rosso installs a turbo housing while working on a customer’s 1995 Toyota Supra at Blunt Garage in Chelsea. Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald ‘IMMEDIATELY STRESSED’ Bobby Rosso and Aaron Baird make a living by purchasing vintage cars in Japan, bringing them back to their garage in Chelsea for restoration and then reselling them. It’s a process that requires quite a bit of patience.
The kinds of vehicles that the duo, who also host the “Right Hand Drive Guys” podcast, purchase must be 25 years old before they can bring them back to Maine. And right now, a magnificent Nissan Skyline R34 sports car is waiting to come to its new home when it turns 25 in December. Rosso instantly thought of that car when he heard about Trump’s auto tariffs.
Rosso and Baird bought it for $135,000. Had they gotten the car here last December, they’d have only paid the 2.5% preexisting tariff for $3,375.
This December, however, the pair will have to pay $37,125. Aaron Baird, left, and Bobby Rosso are concerned about incoming auto tariffs since most of the cars they work on are Japanese. They are planning to focus on importing lower-end cars until the tariffs are lifted.
Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald “I was immediately stressed,” Rosso said. “You’re bringing this thing over to hopefully make a profit. But now, instead of $135,000 you’re paying $172,000, and that’s a big, big jump.
” At this price point, Rosso and Baird would rather leave the Nissan Skyline in a Japanese storage facility so they can wait until the tariffs lift, even though no end date has been set. In the meantime, Rosso and Baird plan to shift their focus to importing lower-end cars that will cost less. GET THEM WHILE THEY LAST Many people have turned to Lee, owner of the Maine dealership empire, for advice.
“I don’t know more than anyone else,” he said about his ability to predict how this will play out. But he can anticipate when higher prices could kick in for his customers. Lee estimates that he has around 1,000 new cars left on his eight lots across southern and central Maine — and another 600 that are used.
The ones currently on Lee Auto Mall soil are still tariff-free — meaning they came into the country before Thursday. He expects that supply will last one to two months. Daria Walton, a Chelsea resident, had the right idea in mid-March, a week before Trump announced the policy.
She had decided she wanted to get a new car last September and was waiting until the time was right. But once Trump took office and she saw the decisions he began making, Walton bumped up her timeline. “I would have waited a couple of more months, but I just had a bad feeling,” she said.
“I know it sounds crazy.” Bobby Rosso installs a turbo housing while working on a customer’s 1995 Toyota Supra at Blunt Garage in Chelsea. Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald Instead of holding out, Walton went to a nearby dealership and left with a 2024 Volkswagen — a car that could have cost at least $10,000 more had she waited until summer.
She had to liquidate funds and take out a larger loan than she would have liked to get it last month, but she felt validated by her decision when Trump announced he would heavily tax imported cars. Lee said that the best, and perhaps only, advice he can give right now is to buy a car as soon as possible if you have the money. “If you weren’t planning to buy a new car, don’t rush out and buy one just for the heck of it,” Lee said.
“But I’m telling people, ‘If you think you’re going to buy something, buy it in the next two months.’ I wouldn’t wait.” And if you don’t have money, hope that the car gods are smiling down on you.
“I’m hoping for one or two more years,” Keller, the Portland resident, said of his Hyundai. “But it’s a salty, salty ocean. Driving by it everyday is going to take a toll.
” Q&A: How will Mainers be impacted by auto tariffs? What should I do with my car? Trump launches tariffs, saying global trade has ‘looted, pillaged’ US economy We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It’s a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
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