By Sharon Terlep
The Trump administration dealt Ford Motor a $900 million tariff blow to close out 2025.
Ford said Tuesday that U.S. officials alerted the company in December that a tariff-relief program announced in October would be retroactive going back to November, not all the way back to May as the automaker anticipated.
"We were notified very late in the year by the Trump administration of an unexpected change," Ford finance chief Sherry House said as she announced quarterly financial results.
The year-end hit nearly doubled Ford's anticipated tariff tally, and capped a period that saw the automaker post its biggest-ever quarterly loss, $11.1 billion, mainly because of previously announced charges tied to the automaker's electric-vehicle business. Ford reported revenue of $45.9 billion, down 5% from a year ago.
Ford shares rose slightly in aftermarket trading.
Ford announced in December that it expected to take $19.5 billion in charges to retrench amid sinking EV demand. Together, Ford, General Motors and Jeep-maker Stellantis have now announced more than $50 billion in charges as they pull back on their EV ambitions.
Even with the massive loss and tariff surprise, Ford's results bested Wall Street's expectations for earnings and revenue. The automaker is forecasting bigger profit and improved cash flow this year, as well as narrower EV losses.
House said that Ford would continue to lose money on its EVs until 2029.
Ford spent about $2 billion on tariffs last year and predicts roughly the same outlay for 2026. The number would be lower if not for last year's fires at a key supplier of aluminum for Ford's bestselling F-Series pickup trucks. The fires sidelined a critical Novelis factory in New York, forcing Ford to import heavily tariffed aluminum until the plant is fully back online, which Ford expects will be sometime between May and September.
Ford lobbied hard for the tariff relief program, which allows manufacturers to apply for credits to help offset duties on imported parts used in vehicles that are manufactured in the U.S. The delay in the effective date of the program hit Ford hard as it makes more vehicles in the U.S. than any other automaker.
Write to Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 10, 2026 16:25 ET (21:25 GMT)
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