Adding one more item to his growing list of executive orders, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced sweeping plans to impose a permanent 25 percent tariff on all cars imported into the United States. The tariffs will take effect on April 2.
Addressing the reporters at the White House, the president said, "What we're going to be doing is a 25 per cent tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States. This will be permanent" while adding, "We start off with a 2.5 per cent base, which is what we're at, and go to 25 per cent."
He claimed the move would drive economic growth. "This will continue to spur growth like you haven't seen before. But if you build your car in the United States, there is no tariff", he added.
The announcement came just days before April 2, the day he is expected to unveil bigger trade measures. He dubbed April 2 as the "liberation day" when he will be introducing a wide range of reciprocal tariffs. Expressing concern over prevailing trade imbalances, Trump always considered tariffs as an effective tool to fix the gap.
Trump's Tariff Spree
Right after assuming the office for his second tenure as the US president, Trump said that he could put 25 percent trade tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting on February. For products from China, Trump announced a levy of 60 percent levy.
In his inaugural address, Trump pledged that tariffs would be imposed and said foreign countries would be paying the trade penalties, even though those taxes are currently paid by domestic importers and often passed along to consumers.
However, a day after pausing planned tariffs for at least a month for Mexico, US President Donald Trump on February 4 agreed to do the same with Canada after a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. However, Trump's tariffs against China are still slated to go into effect on Tuesday.
On February 3, Trump paused the tariffs it imposed on Mexico. In a tweet, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, President of Mexico in her conversation with USA President Donald Trump said that the tariffs have been paused for a month.
Later, he threatened the European Union with a 200 percent retaliatory tariff on European wine, champagne, and spirits if the European Union went forward with a planned tariff on American whiskey. The European tariff was expected to go into effect on April 1.
Trump has also threatened Canada with new tariffs targeting Canadian lumber and dairy products. Citing Canada's roughly 250% tariff on US dairy exports to the country, President Trump said in an Oval Office address, "Canada has been ripping us off for years on lumber and on dairy products," CNN reported.
Moreover, he doubled his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum products imported from Canada to 50 percent. The move came in response to Ontario's decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on its electricity exports to the United States.
More recently, Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on imports from countries purchasing oil or gas from Venezuela. Taking it to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump announced that Venezuela has been “very hostile” to the US and countries purchasing oil from it will be forced to pay the tariff on all their trade to the US starting April 2.
