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.
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 17:54 ET (21:54 GMT)
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