After numerous challenges have faced the U.S. car industry in recent years, it looks like the industry may have more struggles ahead, at least, for the manufacturers that export to China. In a recent article by the New York Times, China unexpectedly announced increased tariffs for imported vehicles from the United States, a counterattack after the U.S. announced an investigation into China’s solar panel exports.

Zepol’s TradeView™ data shows that China is the third largest importer of U.S. vehicles for 2011, after Canada and Germany. Furthermore, U.S. export values of vehicles to China increased over 50% so far in 2011 compared to 2010. The graph below illustrates the rapid rise for China’s vehicle imports, with Q3 of 2011 marking the fourth consecutive quarter of rising imports.

As trade relations between the U.S. and China become more brittle, the continued protectionism from both sides could have harsh effects for the two countries.