- As of this writing, the Trump administration is ‘pausing’ tariffs on cars from Mexico and Canada.
- The move comes after several conflicting statements by Trump and his administration.
- Now it appears as though the Big Three automakers had something to do with the shift in policy.
In what appears to be a 180-degree turn from a statement made by Donald Trump less than 24 hours ago, auto-focused tariffs will not go into effect today after all. According to White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, “We spoke with the big three auto dealers. We are going to give a one-month exemption on any autos coming through [the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.”
Last night, as part of his State of the Union address, Trump contradicted that sentiment saying instead that he had “spoken to the majors today, all three, the top people, and they’re so excited [about the policies and tariffs].”Evidently they weren’t and so the USA won’t enact tariffs against automotive goods coming from Mexico or Canada, for now.
More: These 47 Cars Made In Canada And Mexico Are About To See Major Price Hikes
Just to be clear about what he said in whole about the automotive industry, here’s a full snippet of President Trump’s remarks without edit:
“We are going to have growth in the auto industry like nobody has ever seen. Plants are opening up all over the place. Deals are being made — never seen. That’s a combination of the election win and tariffs. It’s a beautiful word, isn’t it?
That along with our other policies will allow our auto industry to absolutely boom. It’s going to boom. Spoke to the majors today, all three, the top people, and they’re so excited. In fact, already numerous car companies have announced that they will be building massive automobile plants in America, with Honda just announcing a new plant in Indiana, one of the largest anywhere in the world. And this has taken place since our great victory on Nov. 5, a date which will hopefully go down as one of the most important in the history of our country.”
According to Reuters, Trump then held talks with the CEOs of Stellantis, General Motors, and Ford today who offered to boost U.S. investments but at the same time wanted “certainty over tariff policies as well as on vehicle emissions rules.” The result of that call was the pausing of tariffs for now on automotive goods.
Other tariffs did go into effect today, including 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, and now 20 percent on goods from China. To his credit, Trump is right that some companies have announced plans for US-based manufacturing since he took office.
Of course, Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with auto industry tariffs a month ago only to push them back by 30 days. Now, he’s repeated that behavior once again.
See you back here in a month when this whole thing inevitably repeats itself.
