BREAKING NEWS Trump makes yet another tariffs U-turn this time for the auto industry

Daily Mail​

29-04-2025

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Tuesday to relax some of his 25 percent tariffs on cars and their parts, the White House said.
It's the latest significant reversal from the White House, following American automakers' consistent complaints that import taxes threatened to harm domestic manufacturers.
But don't expect the tariff relief to help consumer wallets, analysts said.
Details around the reversal remain sparse. But automakers and independent analysts have said the tariffs will raise prices, reduce sales, and make US production less competitive worldwide.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a Tuesday briefing that Trump would sign the order later in the day but declined to provide details on the order.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who joined Leavitt at the White House briefing, said the goal was to enable automakers to create more domestic manufacturing jobs.
'President Trump has had meetings with both domestic and foreign auto producers, and he´s committed to bringing back auto production to the US,' Bessent said.
'So we want to give the automakers a path to do that, quickly, efficiently and create as many jobs as possible.'
Car industry analysts told DailyMail.com that the tariff u-turn won't have an impact for drivers in the market for a new vehicle.
'For consumers, business as usual,' Erin Keating, the senior director of economics and industry insights, said.
'While the proposed changes are a signal of Trumps willingness to take industry input into consideration when implementing tariffs, they don't materially change the cost implications and of course have not been declared officially.'
Keating suggests that shoppers hoping to grab a new set of wheels should make their purchase as soon as possible to avoid paying the added costs from tariffs.
She suggested consumers remain flexible on vehicle size, color, and trim.
'There is a tariff-free sales event happening right now,' Mike Stanton, the president and CEO of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), said during a conference at this April's New York International Auto Show.
'If you're part of [a group of interested EV buyers], do it now.'
Meanwhile, automakers are expressing relief in public after the Trump administration pulls back from some of its tariff policies.
Automakers in the US asked the administration to reconsider their tariff policies
This is another massive change to Trump's core economic policy
Stellantis Chairman John Elkann said in a statement that the company appreciates the president's tariff relief measures.
'While we further assess the impact of the tariff policies on our North American operations, we look forward to our continued collaboration with the US Administration to strengthen a competitive American auto industry and stimulate exports,' he said.
But behind the scenes, auto execs are far less diplomatic.
This marks the third major tariff shift automakers have had to react to this year. The companies initially dealt with surprising Canadian and Mexican import taxes in February and again in March.
Neither move had been teased on the campaign trail, catching many executives surprised by the massive policy shifts.
Then, he slapped the auto industry with its own 25 percent tariff after the industry was already working through the implications of steel and aluminum taxes.
Automaker executives told DailyMail.com that the singling out of their industry has put them at a major disadvantage.
Executives told DailyMail.com that the policy whiplash has left them at a disadvantage — and that it's making one of their biggest challenges even harder: .