The Port of Antwerp-Bruges has been turned into a giant car park with thousands of cars, vans, trucks and tractors bound for the US sitting idle as manufacturers try to avert the worst of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Figures released by the port show a 15.9% drop in the transport of new passenger cars and vans to the US in the first six months of 2025 compared with the same period last year, with a sharp decline emerging in May – one month after the US president announced his “liberation day” tariffs.

Exports of trucks and what they call “high and heavy equipment” is down by almost a third at 31.5%.

This category includes tractors and construction vehicles, with the fall off in transatlantic movements perhaps reflecting the impact a 25% tariff would have on vehicles that can cost more than $100,000 (£74,430).

The port is one of the world’s largest car transport hubs, shipping more than 3m vehicles around the world in 2024.

“The outlook for the second half of the year remains uncertain. Much will depend on whether a trade agreement between the EU and the US can be reached by 1 August,” the port said in a statement.

European carmakers from Volkswagen to Volvo had been hoping that a deal would have been sealed last week after Trump’s original deadline for a tariff deal with the EU was due to expire.

Before Trump arrived in the White House they paid a 2.5% tariff on exports but since April they are being charged an extra 25%, adding tens of thousands of dollars to the price of a family-sized car in the US.

Ports across Europe have been tested by Brexit, the coronavirus pandemic, the port congestion caused by container shortages in 2024, with congestion a widespread issue across all northern ports, said Justin Atkin, the UK and Ireland port representative of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.

Compared with Brexit, the tariff impact has been “more of an instant shock” he said.

“With the pandemic, we had lockdown, then we were out of lockdown, then back into lockdown, and people got used to managing it after being unprepared. Whereas here … people have talked about tariffs in the build up [to Trump] but I don’t think anyone expected the level and the severity of the instantaneous action.”

The port couldn’t put a figure on the number of cars waiting to be transported but said it was in the thousands.

Atkin said there was also evidence of Chinese cars being stockpiled at the port, which may reflect a diversion of trade from the US with Beijing grappling with tariff barriers.

Separately, disruption to docking schedules caused by diversions due
to the conflict in the Red Sea, plus the increased size of ships in
global fleets, has meant containers are remaining at the port for up to
eight days instead of the usual five.

The US is the Port of Antwerp-Bruges’s second-biggest trading partner after the UK and there is evidence that US exporters are also front-loading cargo to try to avoid any retaliatory tariffs that the EU may impose in the event of a trade war.

In the first half of the year, inbound cargo from the US increased by 17% with higher volumes of liquefied natural gas.