By Gavin Bade
President Trump said he would impose 25% tariffs on global automotive imports to the U.S., making good on a pledge to impose duties on cars and trucks from other nations.
"What we're going to be doing is a 25% tariff on all cars not made in the U.S.," Trump said Wednesday in the Oval Office, appearing to dispel any chance of an exemption for countries such as Canada and Mexico, which have a free trade agreement with the U.S. It wasn't clear when those tariffs would be effective, or whether they would extend to auto parts, which Trump's trade team had considered exempting from tariffs in recent days.
The U.S. will start collecting the auto tariffs on April 3, Trump said, the day after he is slated to announce a broader slate of trade actions. Trump's so-called reciprocal tariffs, slated for that day, were originally planned to equalize U.S. tariffs with those charged by foreign nations, but Trump said Wednesday that the tariffs he plans to implement would likely be lower than that.
In many cases, Trump said, the tariffs will be "less than the tariff [trading partners] have been charging us for decades."
Trump also said the reciprocal tariffs will target "all countries," and not just the 15% of nations that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said could be given priority in the April 2 action.
Trump's team has whipsawed between a maximalist approach to tariffs and offering potential leniency for companies and trading partners. Trump originally said he would impose sector-specific tariffs on industries such as semiconductors, lumber and pharmaceuticals on April 2. But he reiterated on Wednesday that those industry-specific tariffs wouldn't happen on that date, though they could be announced later.
Trump batted away concerns over higher prices for cars or effects on U.S. automakers, saying that car companies with factories in the U.S. would be "thrilled" with the tariffs.
The president also reiterated a campaign pledge to juice auto demand, saying that he was working with House Speaker Mike Johnson to pass a policy that would allow consumers to deduct car interest payments from their income taxes for American-made cars.
Trump said for months that he would impose reciprocal tariffs on April 2 that would equalize U.S. tariffs with what those other countries charge. But he has suggested in recent days some countries might not be subject to duties equal to what they charge. The White House is considering a plan that would offer nations some lenience, an administration official said.
"I'll probably be more lenient than reciprocal, because if I was reciprocal, that would be very tough for people," Trump said Tuesday in an interview with Newsmax.
Trump's economic team is preparing its reciprocal tariff action by calculating tariff rates for trading partners based on barriers including taxes and regulations, the administration official said. But the administration might not implement the full value of the tariff rate for each country, the official said.
Write to Gavin Bade at gavin.bade@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 26, 2025 18:06 ET (22:06 GMT)
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