Tariff Watch: US decides to exempt Rolls-Royce engines

[struggle4progress]

John Hill
May 8, 2025

US President Donald Trump released details of a pending trade deal with the UK from the White House today (8 May) which has only slightly softened the blow of tariffs.

The BBC reported that the US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik, standing next to Trump in the Oval Office, stipulated that Rolls-Royce engines will be exempt from the baseline 10% tariff that remains in force on imports from Britain ...

https://www.airforce-technology.com/news/tariff-watch-us-decides-to-exempt-rolls-royce-engines/

[SheltieLover]

1. Well that will really help the average American

[underpants]

2. We can get 30 for Christmas now instead of just 2 or 3

Gonna be so exciting to have 30 Rolls Royce engines under the tree.

[SheltieLover]

15. Right?

[sheshe2]

27. O.M.G.

Perfect!

[Abnredleg]

3. Jet engines

Which will help union workers at Boeing.

[Johnny2X2X]

11. But hurt them at GE Aerospace

Who make engines too.

[Ocelot II]

7. Those engines aren't for Rolls-Royce cars. RR is a major manufacturer

of jet engines for commercial aircraft. They are one of the engine types used in the Boeing 787.

[mdbl]

26. Those are some classy jet engines

[lapfog_1]

29. nice engines on a crappy problem filled plane

The 787 is a plane designed by bean counters - the same people that brought you the DC10

[usedtobedemgurl]

4. Thank goodness!

With the tariffs, I was only going to buy one, but now I will buy two!

They are,so out of touch!!!

[BannonsLiver]

5. Giggling at posters who think they mean engines for cars.

[Ocelot II]

8. Me, too. RR is the second-largest supplier of aircraft engines in the world.

This has nothing to do with Rolls-Royce cars.

[eppur_se_muova]

31. Rolls-Royce piston engines powered the best planes in WWII -- including Spitfire and Mustang.

(Also the amazing P-38 "twin-tailed devil", not mentioned in the article)

https://www.slashgear.com/1410848/rolls-royce-merlin-engine-win-wwii/

They've been at this a l o o o o o n g time.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

33. Someone should tell trump (and nbc)

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/trump-helps-rolls-royce-threatens-higher-tariffs-mattel-toys-trade-war-rcna205660

Trump gives break to Rolls-Royce cars but threatens more tariffs on Mattel toys

“We took it from 25 to 10 on Rolls-Royce, because Rolls-Royce is not going to be built here. I wouldn't even ask them to do that. It's a very special car, and it's a very limited number, too," Trump said. "It's not, you know, one of the monster car companies that makes millions of cars. They make a very small number of cars that are super luxury."

[BannonsLiver]

35. I'm not surprised he doesn't understand it.

[Liberal In Texas]

6. What a coincidence. The engines on his 757 are Rolls Royce.

And another thing.
I guess he's screwing the US companies that make jet engines. There are a ton of them.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. I would say he needs new engines for his hoopty 757 but he recently grifted new engines with his $250 million...

….”stop the steal” windfall. Prior to that, his plane sat on the tarmac needing engines for years.

[Ocelot II]

20. The only large jet engine manufacturers in the US are GE and Pratt & Whitney,

but both of them produce engines in joint ventures with foreign manufacturers. GE and the French company Safran make CFM engines, while Pratt & Whitney works with Japanese and German companies.

[Liberal In Texas]

23. According to Wikipedia:

US Jet Engine Manufacturers:
2si
A
Advanced Turbine Engine Company
Aero Adventure
Aeronca Aircraft
Avco
C
CFE Company
Continental Aerospace Technologies
Curtiss-Wright
D
DeltaHawk Engines, Inc.
E
Engine Alliance
Engine Components Inc.
G
GE Aerospace
GE Honda Aero Engines
General Motors
Great Plains Aircraft Supply Company
H
Hexatron Engineering
Honeywell
Honeywell Aerospace
L
LHTEC
Lycoming Engines
P
Pratt & Whitney
R
Rohr, Inc.
Rolls-Royce North America
S
List of Sherman Fairchild companies
Solar Turbines
SpaceDev
Superior Air Parts
W
Williams International

As far as what I know about helicopters, Turbomeca is now a Safron company. Still made here with Safron ownership. RR also makes turbine engines for rotorcraft, with a company called Rolls Royce America. Produced here, owned elsewhere.

[Ocelot II]

25. GE, RR and P&W are the primary makers of jet engines for large commercial aircraft,

which is the main subject of the thread. Most of the names on the list aren't in that business. Lycoming and Continental, for example, mostly make engines for general aviation aircraft. Garrett, which was a major manufacturer of turboprop engines, merged into Lycoming, and both are now owned by Allied Signal. But if you want a big engine for a big airplane you'll have to get it from GE, RR, P&W or one of their alliances.

[Liberal In Texas]

32. The..."main subject of the thread..." for you maybe. Not me.

RR makes all sizes of turbines. For example, they're a big into helicopter power plants. So, it's not all about jetliners.

[FSogol]

9. LOL, that'll really help all the rural folks that voted for Trumpy!

[Ocelot II]

12. It might help the people who work at Boeing. RR is a major builder of jet engines,

and they supply them to Boeing. This has absolutely nothing to do with Rolls-Royce cars, which are now made by a subsidiary of BMW.

[FSogol]

13. I never mentioned cars and most MAGAts could care

less about Boeing. They lack the lobbying power and bribe capability to get any special carve-outs on Trumpy's fiscal disaster.

[Meowmee]

14. Of course they did 😩

That should really help the average car buyer...

[MichMan]

16. Why would car buyers be concerned about jet engines?

[Meowmee]

17. I was kidding 😁 maybe I could have phrased it differently

[Ocelot II]

18. See above posts. This has nothing to do with cars.

Rolls Royce doesn't even make cars any more; cars sold under the old RR name are now made by BMW. This is about jet engines, which RR does make, and sells to airplane manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus. It's probably a backdoor deal that Boeing is paying for somehow.

[Meowmee]

19. Yes I realized that... lol

I should have added that in...

[wishstar]

21. Reminds me of Bush trying to exempt yachts from luxury tax in 1992

cause we can't inconvenience the wealthy and the businesses that cater to them

[BannonsLiver]

22. These aren't car engines.

[allegorical oracle]

24. Was listening to his WH speech as I wrapped a birthday gift and he did mention cars --

Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and Jaguars. He said those are "luxury cars" and not many are sold in the U. S., so exempting them wouldn't make much of a difference. Didn't hear him mention engines at that time.

[Ocelot II]

28. There really isn't a deal; there's just a concept of a deal.

If the tariffs are lifted only on the minuscule number of ultra-luxury cars the UK exports, that's not much of a deal anyhow.

[boonecreek]

30. I didn't know RR engines powered so many planes.

Their engines are going on the new B52J variant.

[Hugin]

34. Adding yet another costly complex layer of bureaucracy to determine exactly which parts of RR engines are exempt.

Very small government and efficient of the small government Republicans.

[BootinUp]

36. Shocking!

that it took them so long to exempt Rolls Royce engines.