Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says his administration is bracing for the impact President Donald Trump’s recently announced 25% tariffs on cars will have on the Port of Baltimore.
The White House says the tariffs will take effect on April 2 and will cover passenger vehicles and light trucks, as well as parts such as engines and transmissions.
The Port of Baltimore typically handles more cars and light trucks than any other port in the country. Following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the port dropped to second-ranked last year but still handled roughly 750,000 vehicles, about 85% of which were imports, according to Maryland Port Administration spokesman Richard Scher.
“Whether you’re getting your car from X country or Y country, whether it’s on its way to Michigan or on its way to Hagerstown, it probably came through the Port of Baltimore,” Moore told reporters Thursday.
He said his administration is working to determine what sort of fiscal impact the tariffs will likely have on the Port of Baltimore and on the state.
According to Tinglong Dai, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business and an expert in global supply chains, about $20 billion worth of vehicles are imported through Baltimore’s port. He said the largest number of those vehicles come from Germany.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Rachel Baye over at WYPR
