President Donald Trump vowed to usher in a 'new golden age' for America with his second term, and as well as slashing federal spending with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, he's attempting to add some money to the pot with some severe tariffs.
The POTUS has already levied tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada, and despite the backlash, he's continued to use his powers to sign more into effect. Referring to the upcoming April 2 tariffs as "the beginning of Liberation Day in America," Donald Trump has announced a sweeping 25% tariff on 'imported passenger vehicles' from overseas.
Speaking at the Oval Office, Trump said: "What we’re going to be doing is a 25% tariff for all cars that are not made in the United States. We start off with a 2.5% base, which is what we’re at, and go to 25%." The White House expects this to generate up to $100 billion in annual revenue.
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As reported by Reuters, the USA imported $474 billion worth of automobiles and automobile parts in 2024, with $220 billion being passenger cars. Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and Germany were top of the list.
A White House fact sheet explains what this means: "The 25 percent tariff will be applied to imported passenger vehicles (sedans, SUVs, crossovers, minivans, cargo vans) and light trucks, as well as key automobile parts (engines, transmissions, powertrain parts, and electrical components), with processes to expand tariffs on additional parts if necessary.
"Importers of automobiles under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be given the opportunity to certify their U.S. content and systems will be implemented such that the 25 percent tariff will only apply to the value of their non-US content."
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Defending his tariffs, Trump said: "We're going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth, taking a lot of the things that they've been taking over the years.
“They've taken so much out of our country, friend and foe and frankly, friend has been oftentimes much worse than foe."
Attempting to boost the US' manufacturing industry, he suggested: "You build your car in the US, there is no tariff."
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro praised the move and said: "The foreign trade cheaters have turned America into a lower-wage assembly operation for foreign parts that threatens our national security because it’s eroded our defense and manufacturing industrial base.”
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Around half of the 16 million cars, SUVs, and light trucks bought in the USA in 2024 were imported.
Navarro reiterated that out of the other eight million, over half of them included foreign parts: “So what that means is less than 25 percent of the cars sold in America contain US content on average. That stops right now with the Trump auto tariffs."
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Even Trump turned the front of the White House into his own personal Tesla showroom, the electric vehicle brand (overseen by Musk) has written a letter to the President explaining the devastating effect these tariffs could have.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called this a 'direct attack' on the Canadian workforce and added: "We will defend our workers, we will defend our companies, we will defend our country, and we will defend it together."
Similarly, shares in Japanese automakers dropped by up to 5%, as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said: "We need to think about the best option for Japan’s national interest. We are considering every option in order to reach the most appropriate response.”
Trump has hinted there could be further tariffs, and warned against trying to retaliate, especially if Canada and the EU try to join forces: "If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had."
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The irony is that Trump himself will never even be able to drive a car...imported or not.