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.
As the U.S., Mexico and Canada are poised to renegotiate the free trade agreement known as USMCA among the three countries, expect the U.S. to review the rules of origin and "tighten them" in favor of requiring a higher percentage of North American content, trade attorneys with Miller and Chevalier said on a March 25 webinar sponsored by public accounting firm Forvis Mazars.
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.
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.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on a podcast last week that he'll get the "great software companies in the world" to build "greatest customs processing [system] ever" for free.
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.
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.
Tariffs on countries that import Venezuelan oil could begin as early as April 2 and will be imposed on countries based on determinations from the State and Commerce departments, said an executive order issued by President Donald Trump on March 24.
President Donald Trump posted on social media that countries that buy oil or gas from Venezuela "will be forced to pay a Tariff of 25% to the United States on any Trade they do with our Country. All documentation will be signed and registered, and the Tariff will take place on April 2nd, 2025, LIBERATION DAY IN AMERICA. Please let this notification serve to represent that the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol, and all other Law Enforcement Agencies within our Country have been so notified."
President Donald Trump promised tariffs on automobiles in the "next few days," and seemed to indicate they would be announced prior to April 2, the date he said that sector tariffs as well as reciprocal tariffs will come into effect.