Adds details throughout
President Donald Trump said today he would impose a 25pc tariff on foreign-made cars and trucks imported into the US, but said there will be no tariffs on automobiles assembled in the US.
Trump said the new tariffs on imported automobiles marked the "beginning of Liberation Day", the term Trump has used to reference his plan to unveil sweeping tariffs on major foreign trade partners on 2 April. The White House estimates the tariff on imported cars and trucks will generate $100bn/yr in new tariff revenue. Trump said the auto tariff will go into effect on 2 April, providing a financial incentive for automakers to relocate manufacturing to the US.
"We'll effectively be charging a 25pc tariff, but if you build your car in the United States, there's no tariff," Trump said in remarks at the White House. "And what that means is a lot of foreign car companies, a lot of companies, are going to be in great shape."
The auto tariffs will likely add thousands of dollars to the price of many imported cars and trucks. But the tariffs — the details of which have yet to be released — appears more targeted than Trump's initial plan to impose a 25pc tariff on nearly all imports from Canada and Mexico, because the tariffs would not apply to cars and trucks parts, so long as the vehicles are assembled in the US.
"Anybody that has plants in the United States it's going to be good for, in my opinion," Trump said.
Ontario premier Doug Ford previously warned that Trump's plan to impose a nearly across-the-board import tariff could have caused auto manufacturing in the US and Canada to grind to a halt within as few as 10 days. Trump eventually delayed those tariffs until 2 April.
Earlier this week, Trump said that South Korean automaker Hyundai's decision to invest $5.8bn to build a steel mill in Louisiana offered a blueprint for how companies could avoid tariffs. Trump has already imposed a 25pc tariff on steel and aluminum, and earlier this week said he would announce tariffs on imported lumber, semiconductor chips and pharmaceuticals.
Even as a lack of details about the upcoming tariffs has fueled uncertainty for businesses and sharp declines on US stock markets, Trump has continued to announce additional tariffs. On Tuesday, Trump said any country taking delivery of Venezuelan oil or gas would be "forced" to pay an incremental 25pc tariff on any goods imported in the US.
US oil executives appear to be growing tired of Trump's chaotic trade policy, particularly his imposition of a 25pc tariff on imported steel that is used in drill pipes, executives said in a survey the US Federal Reserve of Dallas released Wednesday. The uncertainty over tariffs and trade policy is causing "chaos", they said in the survey, and increasing their cost of capital.
"Tariff policy is impossible for us to predict and doesn't have a clear goal," an unnamed oil executive said in the survey. "We want more stability."
