Trump Plans To Impose 25% Tariff On Imported Vehicles

The US President Leaves Little Room For Exempting Canada Or Mexico

- Gavin Bade & Christopher Otts

President Trump said he would impose 25% tariffs on global automotive imports to the U.S., making good on pledges to penalize foreign makers of cars and trucks.

"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.

The U.S. will start collecting the auto tariffs on April 3, Trump said, the day after he is set to announce a broader slate of trade actions. Trump's so-called reciprocal tariffs, slated for that day, were originally planned to equalize U.S. tariffs with those charged by foreign nations, but Trump said Wednesday that the tariffs he plans to implement would likely be lower than that.

The tariffs will cover finished automobiles and automotive parts, a senior administration official said. The administration had considered exempting auto parts from the tariffs. But parts that are compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will remain tariff-free until the Commerce Department "establishes a process to apply tariffs to their non-U.S. content," White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields wrote online.