Aug. 14 (NBD) -- U.S. automobile manufacturers are facing pressure from China's latest tariff policy.

The Chinese authority made an announcement that the country will impose an additional 25 percent tariff on about 16 billion U.S. dollars worth of products imported from the U.S. as of August 23.

Of all the 333 imported goods being targeted, about 200 products are automobile-related goods, including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, fuel vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

This came after China announced 25 percent duty on 34 million worth of U.S. goods including cars and automotive parts on July 6.

A salesperson of a BMW 4S shop told NBD that the car maker is bound to further lift prices for its X5 and X6 models though the store hasn't yet received any notice for price hike.

Affected by July's tariff increase, BMW has raised retail prices of the two models by 4-7 percent on July 30.

Another car maker Mercedes-Benz has already released a poster disclosing its price hike plan.

Models priced at 800,000 yuan (116,456.8 U.S. dollars) are estimated to be sold at 950,000 yuan (138,292.5 U.S. dollars) and an additional 200,000 yuan (29,114.2 U.S. dollars) need to be paid for those with retail price of 1 million yuan (145,571.0 U.S. dollars).

A seller of imported cars located in Beijing told NBD that prices of Mercedes-Benz's American-made models such as the GLE and GLS will inevitably go up.

It is noteworthy that U.S.-based Ford Motor hasn't up-regulated car prices since July 6. But a salesperson with the company noted that the further raised tariff will have an impact on imported models such as the Mustang as well as some Chinese-made cars with imported automotive parts. He predicted that Ford is set to lift its model prices.

A person in charge of Ford China said to NBD that the company is mulling a price increase to offset the impact caused by the new tariff policy. 

When determining the prices, Ford would take different factors into consideration in a bid to ensure benefits of several parties including consumers, dealers and shareholders, the person added. 

In fact, the recent tariff adjustments have dragged down earnings of the U.S. car manufacturers this year.

According to Ford Motor's financial results for the second quarter of 2018, under U.S. GAAP, the company generated revenue of 38.92 billion U.S. dollars, down from the 39.85 billion U.S. dollars during the same period in 2017. Its net profits stood at 1.07 billion U.S. dollars, down 48 percent year over year.

Email: zhanglingxiao@nbd.com.cn