Get Ready For Even More Tariffs

Happy Monday! It’s June 8, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you’ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning’s edition, we’re looking at the latest round of tariffs from Trump, as well as new self-driving initiatives from Uber in London. We’ll also look at new right to repair legislation, and the cult of the Rav4 hybrid. 

Oh, you thought the tariffs were over after the Supreme Court struck them down? Ah, how naïve you are. The Trump administration announced further tariffs recently, though cars — which have retained their tariffs through an exemption to the Supreme Court ruling — are excluded from the new rules. Car parts, however, are less lucky. From Automotive News: 

Vehicles and parts already subject to auto tariffs would be exempt from new duties on 60 U.S. trading partners, the Trump administration proposed June 2.

The administration said it plans to place tariffs of 10 percent or 12.5 percent on countries including Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, China and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union.

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But imports of automotive products not covered by the auto parts tariff, including many electronics, interior materials and sub-assemblies, would be subject to the proposed duties, said Marc Gilbert, global lead of Boston Consulting Group’s Center for Geopolitics.

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The new tariffs are part of the Trump administration’s plan to rebuild its global tariff structure after the U.S. Supreme Court in February struck down duties it implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Those included nation-level reciprocal tariffs that ranged from 10 percent to 50 percent, as well as duties Trump said he placed on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese products in response to fentanyl trafficking.

That ruling did not impact auto tariffs and metals duties, which remain in place and were exempt from the now-defunct tariffs.

Buying a car? Get ready to pay more. Fixing a car? Get ready to pay more, too. Americans may be keeping our cars around longer than ever to avoid paying exorbitant new-car prices, but now that’s going to be a financial issue all the same. 

British AI company Wayve is looking to solve the problem of driverless cars, and now Uber has bought in. The two companies will co-run an autonomous rideshare program in London, where Brits should soon be able to grab a driverless car and be ferried to their destination without ever having to interact with another human being. From Reuters: 

Uber said its users could sign up from Monday for a chance to ride in London’s first robotaxis powered by AI technology ​from British start-up Wayve as soon as regulators give the go-ahead ‌for launch, which it expects in the coming months.

Autonomous vehicles are a strategic priority for the ride-hailing company, and it has partnered with more than 30 firms across the world on ​self-driving freight, delivery and taxi services, with millions of autonomous trips already ​taken.

In London, it is working with Wayve to launch services that ⁠will work as regular UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort, except the vehicle ​will be driven by AI.

“This is the first time the general public will ​be able to hail an autonomous vehicle in the UK,” Wayve’s VP of commercial and operations Kaity Fischer said in an interview.

There would be a trained operator sitting behind the wheel monitoring ​the system, she said, but users can expect to be taken from pick-up ​to drop-off with no human intervention.

London already has better solutions to this problem, namely buses and the underground. Getting more low-density, high-space-use private vehicles onto the city’s streets seems to be in direct contrast with recent efforts to reduce car use, such as implementing congestion pricing in the city. On the flipside, though, you won’t have to interact with a working class person who’s chauffeuring you around. Surely that’s worth it. 

Our large wet dad, United States President Donald John Trump, is now getting into the right to repair debate. The House of Representatives is looking to make that right a law, and auto groups are looking to ensure that never happens. You can probably guess which group Trump met with. From Automotive News:

President Donald Trump said Thursday he met with senior auto industry leaders to discuss the ongoing debate over right-to-repair legislation.

Trump met with General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Ford Motor Co. senior executive Andrew Frick and top officials from the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, along with Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio, a former auto dealer.

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“We had the auto industry in yesterday. They don’t want people to fix their car. I said, ‘That’s strange!'” Trump said. “They have a thing; nobody’s allowed to fix their car.”

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Legislation passed by a House Energy and Commerce Committee last week would codify existing industry memorandums of understanding and give the Federal Trade Commission authority to enforce the agreements.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents nearly all major automakers, said it supported the proposal and noted that 75 percent of post-warranty vehicle repair work happens at independent shops. The group said automakers committed in 2014 to making all repair instructions, tools and diagnostic codes readily available to dealers and independent repairers.

Many lawmakers and independent repair shops say more is needed and want Congress to pass separate legislation ensuring vehicle owners have access to — and can share — information necessary for repairs, including diagnostic data.

“We’re already doing all this, you definitely don’t need a law about it” isn’t a fantastic argument. If you were already doing everything in the law, you wouldn’t be lobbying about it — its passage wouldn’t affect you. You certainly wouldn’t need to meet with the President about it. 

Remember back in 2020 and 2021, when the chip shortage meant no OEM could build enough cars, and Rav4 hybrids were trading for approximately their weight in gold? Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Now, thanks to high gas prices, it’s happening again. From Bloomberg: 

Used, late-model versions of the RAV4 hybrid often list for more than their original sticker prices, even with thousands of miles on their odometers. In some cases, they cost more than a new 2026 model fresh from the Toyota Motor Corp. factory.

The price inversion seems to defy a natural law of used-car economics. But it illustrates some of the most powerful forces driving the US auto market this year.

The Iran war sent gas prices surging, with the national average for regular well above $4 per gallon. Some car buyers have responded by snapping up used electric vehicles, which often sell at a steep discount from their original price. Others who are either unwilling or unable to go fully electric have turned to hybrids, which pair an electric motor with a gas-burning engine. Long considered a niche product in the US, they’re now highly coveted.

Surely this is a good sign for the economy, and not an ill portent. 

Imagine having a garage bay full of tools and lifts, and then living upstairs. Wouldn’t that be the dream? I’d even finally have room for a lathe.

Andy is pretty convinced that gas prices have peaked, but he’s careful to add the caveat that something dumb could still happen. I, by contrast, have been browbeaten over the last few years to staunchly believe something dumb will happen. 

Instagram reels introduced me to Fox Gunn last night, and my music tastes have been forever altered.