Customs attorney Dan Ujczo, who has contacts in the White House as well as clients who are major automakers, said he thinks the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over migration and fentanyl will continue past April 2, and will be stacked with auto tariffs and the reciprocal levies.
Customs attorney Dan Ujczo, speaking to an audience of automotive industry compliance officials hosted by the Automotive Industry Action Group, cautioned that if the listeners' companies are exporting auto parts from Mexico or Canada, they shouldn't assume that they have until May 3 before 25% tariffs are going to bite. (This is assuming the parts currently qualify for USMCA and therefore are avoiding the 25% tariffs imposed on exports from those countries under the guise of a national emergency on fentanyl smuggling and migration.)
President Donald Trump, in a March 25 interview with Newsmax, said that while he doesn't "want to have too many exceptions" to the reciprocal tariffs, the percentage that is imposed may be lower than what the administration assesses is the total burden of tariffs and non-tariff barriers.
Additional 25% tariffs for cars and light trucks and cargo vans will take effect 12:01 a.m. ET on April 3, with tariffs on parts including engines and engine parts, transmissions and powertrain parts, and electrical components coming later, but no later than May 3, said an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.
President Donald Trump said at the White House that tariffs on imported autos, now at 2.5%, will go to 25%. He then signed an executive order, but that order was not yet posted online. The staffer who presented that order said the 25% tariff would be added to existing tariffs.
At a hearing largely focused on the need to get other countries to lower their tariffs, sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, and discriminatory tariffs on services exports, Democrats on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee focused on Trump's tariff hikes.
Most business interests argued that removing goods subject to Section 301 tariffs is not administrable, would damage the economy, and, if not abandoned, needs a long lead time to prepare for, in comments to CBP.
Groups that represent importers, carriers and ports are asking the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to rethink its remedies for Chinese dominance in shipbuilding, arguing that imposing fees on most ships bringing imports to U.S. ports will drive up prices, increase port congestion and devastate the business of smaller ports.
When President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter at the White House if his threat to put 25% tariffs on countries that import oil from Venezuela would apply to China, the top importer, he said it would.
Apparel importers and retailers don't have much favor in this administration, but groups representing their interests tried to appeal to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's logical side in comments requested by the agency on the reciprocal tariffs slated for April 2. The trade group representing the greatly diminished domestic textile and apparel industry, in contrast, said reciprocal tariffs could be used to recoup $100 billion in annual lost sales.