Exclusive analysis: Trump’s tariffs to add estimated $4.2bn to US construction equipment imports

That’s according to calculations from specialist consultancy Off-Highway Research, shared with Construction Briefing.

Net imports currently make up 20% of the construction equipment sold in the country (net imports of around 55,000 units out of a total of 287,000 units sold in the US in 2024, according to Off-Highway Research analysis).

In 2024, the total value of imported equipment, including earthmoving machinery, haulers, lifting equipment and mobile elevated work platforms (MEWPs), and roadbuilding equipment was US$19.4 billion, Off-Highway Research has calculated, using data from United States International Trade Commission (USITC).

A series of tariff announcements in the early weeks of the Trump presidency meant that the cost of importing those same machines would have increased to $19.8 billion, as compared to the 2024 baseline.

And the latest round of tariffs announced yesterday (2 April), which include 10% on all imports to the US and even higher rates for certain countries like China (+54%), the EU (+20%), and Japan (+24%), takes that figure even higher, to an estimated $23.6 billion

“This latest increase in tariffs represents about a 21.5% increase on the cost of these imported machines to the consumer [against the 2024 baseline],” Sleight said.

“If nothing else happens, that adds about $4 billion to the cost of machinery imported to the US. Tariffs are a tax on goods as they enter a country, so they’re ultimately paid by the buyer in that country, not the overseas producer.”

Price of US domestically produced machines expected to rise

But Sleight noted that such increases are likely to affect the price of domestically produced machinery too. “What you would typically find in a situation like this is the domestic producers now have the headroom to increase their prices. If they were to move their prices up to match the cost of an imported piece of machinery, that could spell 20% inflation across the board.”

And some US-based manufacturers are likely to take a hit on their input costs as a result of tariffs, which means that they could be forced to increase prices in any event. “Component supply chains for construction equipment are global and relatively low volume compared to consumer industries. This means that for certain products, there are only a handful of suppliers in the world. This particularly applies to hydraulic components, but extends into all sorts of areas. So domestic producers will certainly face higher costs as a result of the tariffs and they will have to pass these onto their customers,” Sleight said.

What US domestic producers decide to do when it comes to the price of their machines remains to be seen, but Sleight said that the range of impact in terms of price inflation on construction equipment in the US is therefore likely to fall into the range of 4% to 21.5%.

Trump has argued that over the longer term, the introduction of higher tariffs on imports to the US will make America a wealthier nation and will benefit US manufacturing and make the US more self-reliant by encouraging OEMs to move production back onshore.

Impact on OEMs’ share prices

News of Trump’s announcement appeared to have an immediate impact on the share price of some of the world’s biggest construction equipment manufacturers.

Major US-based manufacturer Caterpillar’s share price rose 1.24% in the 24 hours up to 1030am BST on 3 April. Terex shares were up 5% and JLG owner Oshkosh was up nearly 2%. But John Deere fell 1.58% and Case New Holland shares were also down nearly 1%.

There was a more marked downward trend among Japanese OEMs. Hitachi Construction Machinery was down 4.17%, Komatsu down 4.46% and Tadano down 4.65%.