TMTPOST -- U.S. President Donald Trump is escalating the worldwide trade war with new auto tariffs.
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Credit：Xinhua News Agency
Trump on Wednesday signed an executive proclamation to impose a 25% tariff on all automobile imports, effective on eastern daylight time April 3 at 12:01 a.m. The new tariff is “permanent”, Trump underscored in the Oval Office prior to his signing. He told reporters that the tariff will affect “all cars that not made in the United States.”
Trump then added If the cars are “made in the United States, it’s absolutely no tariff.” "We are going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth, taking a lot of things that they have been taking over the years," the president states.
Trump said the auto tariff, which is set to be added to existing tariffs, will continue to spur U.S. growth and is expected to result in $100 billion in revenues. White House staff secretary Will Scharf said the new tariffs apply to “foreign-made cars and light trucks.” He clarified that they come in addition to duties that are already in place. He also noted the tariffs will lead to “over $100 billion of new annual revenue” to the U.S. government.
Trump found that imports of automobiles and certain automobile parts continue to threaten to impair the national security of the United States and deem it necessary and appropriate to impose tariffs, according to the proclamation issued by White House.
“Today, only about half of the vehicles sold in the United States are manufactured domestically, a decline that jeopardizes our domestic industrial base and national security, and the United States’ share of worldwide automobile production has remained stagnant since the February 17, 2019, report,” Trump said in the proclamation. The report the president mentioned is the one the U.S. Secretary of Commerce transmitted to him on an investigation into the effects of imports of passenger vehicles, light trucks and certain automobile parts on the national security of the United States under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
Trump disclosed he had communicated with the Big Three automakers, Stellantis, Ford and General Motors. “If they have factories here, they’re thrilled,” he said on Wednesday. “If you don’t have factories here, they’re going to have to get going and build them.” He said Tesla CEO Elon Musk, his key advisor didn’t give advice on auto tariffs “because he may have a conflict.” Musk, head of the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) heavyweight, had never asked for” a favor in business whatsoever”, according to Trump.
Trump on Monday has suggested he will move forward tariffs on a wide range of industries on top of those on steel and aluminum. “We’ll be announcing cars very shortly,” Trump said in a Cabinet meeting, adding that levies on pharmaceuticals would be announced “at some point”. “So we’ll be announcing some of these things in the very near future, not the long future, the very near future,” Trump said.
Trump added the tariffs on lumber and semiconductor industries at an event about Hyundai’s investment later that day. Trump has described April 2 as "Liberation Day" as he touts the new tariffs on a wide range of imported goods that his administration plans to unveil on that day. When pressed on whether the tariffs on more industries will also enter effect on April 2, Trump said “not all tariffs are included that day.”
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