USA to impose tariffs of 25% on auto imports from April

The European car industry has been dreading a tariff offensive by US President Donald Trump on vehicle imports into the US for weeks. Trump has now officially announced that he will impose tariffs of around 25 per cent on car imports starting in April. However, as usual, his announcement remained vague.

The new US president is essentially basing his economic policy on tariffs – and now Trump is turning his attention to the automotive industry. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighbourhood of 25 per cent,” Trump told reporters. He added that car factories in other countries like Mexico would be closed. It remained unclear whether Trump plans a blanket tariff on all automotive imports or wants to impose tariffs on specific countries or regions.

It is known that Trump is particularly vocal against those trading partners that impose higher tariffs on certain goods than his own country. He sees such an imbalance in the automotive sector, for example, in trade with the EU: the US currently levies a 2.5 per cent tariff on auto imports from the European Union. In comparison, the latter charges 10 per cent. Trump wants to iron out this imbalance with so-called reciprocal tariffs, which his administration is currently preparing.

Trump’s reference to 2 April is due to the fact that officials in his administration have until 1 April to submit reports that will form the legal basis for new tariffs on a range of imports. These include semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. As a major industry player and export nation, Germany would be particularly hard hit by the new duties on automotive imports. According to Der Spiegel, Volkswagen is thus currently seeking direct contact with the government in Washington. “We will contact the new Trump administration on short notice,” said Group CEO Oliver Blume in an interview with German television.

Since taking office around a month ago, the new US President has already imposed or announced several tariffs on certain goods or countries. For example, he recently imposed 25 per cent tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium. Trump also imposed tariffs of ten per cent on goods from China and 25 per cent on goods from Canada and Mexico – but initially granted his two neighbouring countries a 30-day reprieve.

spiegel.de (in German), politico.com