US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday imposing 25% tariffs on imports of foreign-made cars and light trucks as he continued his global import duty push.
As he has done repeatedly in similar announcements, Trump billed his latest initiative as an effort to bring wealth to the US, saying foreign nations “really ripped us off at levels that nobody’s seen before. But that’s not going to happen.”
“They’ve taken so much out of our country, friend and foe. And frankly, friend has been oftentimes much worse than foe. And this is very modest,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
“What we’re going to be doing is a 25% tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States. If they’re made in the United States, there’s absolutely no tariff.”
The automobile tariffs will go into effect on April 2 when Trump enacts reciprocal tariffs on nations worldwide in a bid to get them to drop their import duties or face the same penalties leveled on their exports. Collection will take place the following day. The 25% tariffs will be added on to any that are already imposed on car imports.
It is unclear how the tariffs will be imposed, given that many automobiles that are built in the US are constructed from imported parts, but Trump vowed to have “very strong policing” on his order.