How the aftermarket stayed strong amid tariff shake up

Trade disruption and tariff shocks did not stop the automotive aftermarket from turning 2025 into what one industry association leader called “a great year.”

That was the picture painted by Ben Brucato, vice president of membership and engagement with MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers. Speaking to suppliers during the MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers Global Summit in Miami in February, he described 2025 as “a real unprecedented level of uncertainty” but said the industry still posted strong results.

“Tariffs, shifts in technologies — which continues to be a factor — supply chain disruption, ESG changes, worker trainers and attracting new talent to the industry” were among the pressures facing suppliers, Brucato pointed out. Even so, “We had a really good year. It was a great year for the aftermarket.”

Still, there was that first topic that lingered and continues to do so.

“Obviously, we had a big upset with tariffs. That was the name of the game last year,” Brucato said.

He showed a chart of global trade for 2025 and argued that, despite the policy shocks, volumes held up.

“Although we had an upset with tariffs and a lot of uncertainty,” Brucato said. “If you add all that up, we had a really good year.”

One visible shift was in exports from China to the United States.

“China exports to the United States. Obviously, as you can imagine, drastically decreased,” Brucato observed.

He told the audience China’s overall exports were still growing, but the destinations have changed.

“China’s exports are still happening, and they’re still growing. They’re just not to the United States,” he said. “So where does that go? Where do those products go? A lot of it to Latin America, a lot of the rest of the globe.”

He framed this as “very real challenge or opportunity” for suppliers, depending on their exposure to those markets.

To highlight the way trade has adjusted, he quoted a DHL executive: “Trade will find its way. It’s like water. One country can aim to change the way it did things, but trade will happen around them.”

And that’s what happened last year.

“Trade continued. Your business is adapted,” Brucato said.

Brucato said MEMA’s own barometer survey showed how supplier sentiment shifted through the year.

“At the beginning of the year, there’s pretty negative sentiment, specifically driven by the impact of tariffs,” he said, but things changed. “Sentiment actually started going up throughout the year.”

He attributed that change to how companies behave when uncertainty lasts.

“I think companies — not that they were more certain or had a grasp on what was going to happen — but they were starting to become more agile,” he said. “As an uncertainty prolongs business, people just become better at adapting, better at changing, looking at other areas to diversify.”