President Donald Trump shared on Tuesday that he is planning on putting 25% tariffs in place on all auto imports shipped to the United States as early as April 2.
Trump shared his plan during a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, noting that he is planning on issuing tariffs for semiconductor chips and pharmaceuticals.
Trump said that he plans to “go substantially higher over a course of a year,” but that he wants to give time for companies to bring manufacturing to the U.S. to avoid the taxes.
“We want to give them a little bit of a chance,” he said.
The move from Trump comes after he issued a 10% tariff on all Chinese imports at the beginning of the month, as well asa 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports last week.
The president has called for “balanced” trade with foreign nations, saying that he feels U.S. exports have faced unfair treatment in other countries. He’s now discussed issuing reciprocal tariffs on other nations to even the playing field.
Howard Lutnick, Trump’s Commerce Secretary, shared last week before his confirmation to his role that an investigation into the tariff and tax policies of other nations had been ordered, leaving the door open for reciprocal tariffs to be put in place as soon as April 2.
However, Trump’s latest tariff threats could have wide-ranging effects that are felt beyond the industries being levied with the taxes.
U.S. consumers could soon see the cost of cars, technology, and prescriptions skyrocket as companies look to make back money lost through the tariffs.
Still, the move from Trump is an effort to bring manufacturing, and inevitably jobs, back to the U.S., and the president shared this week that he feels it will work.
“When they come into the United States, and they have their plant or factory here, there is no tariff,” Trump said.