Auto Industry Leaders Call on USTR to Pause Tariffs on Vehicle Carrier Vessels

Auto industry leaders representing major domestic and international U.S. automakers today sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer urging the Trump administration to continue the pause on Section 301 fees on foreign-built vehicle carrier vessels.

Currently, Section 301 fees on foreign-built carrier vessels, also known as “roll-on/roll-off” or RoRo vessels, are slated to resume effect on November 10, 2026. If allowed to take effect, these fees — which are significantly higher and more burdensome than the fees proposed for other classes of vessels subject to the same Section 301 actions — will impose substantial and disproportionate costs on American-made cars and trucks without achieving its objective of expanding domestic RoRo production.

Together, Autos Drive America, Alliance for Automotive Innovation, and the American Automotive Policy Council expressed support for the administration’s goal of onshoring the production of ships, including vehicle carrier vessels. However, the current lack of commercial-scale vehicle carrier shipbuilding in the United States means the administration’s ongoing Section 301 tariffs would impose a significant cost burden on the automotive industry while doing little to return vessel production to the U.S.

In the letter, the industry leaders write:

“Imposing the currently paused Section 301 fees on vehicle carrier vessels arriving in U.S. ports would undermine the viability of vehicle carrier services to and from the U.S. Implementation of the service fee would materially constrain vessel availability and drive up shipping costs—undermining the automakers’ ability to build cars in America and competitively export those vehicles. In practical terms, the Section 301 fees on RoRo vessels works at a cross-purpose to the Administration’s onshoring and reshoring efforts.”

A full version of the letter can be found HERE.