President Donald Trump will announce new tariffs on the auto industry Wednesday evening.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to preview the new barrier taxes during her Wednesday media briefing but said that the president would elaborate on the announcement during a “press conference” at 4:00 p.m. in the Oval Office.
Trump has implemented a growing list of tariffs on individual trading partners and specific sectors. That list includes 25% taxes on Canada and Mexico, 25% tariffs on all steel, aluminum, and their downstream products, and non-trade-related tariffs on countries like Venezuela and Iran.
The president has repeatedly told reporters that he will place new “reciprocal” tariffs on all trading partners maintaining tariffs on imports from the United States on April 2, dubbing the date “Liberation Day,” and hinted and additional sector-specific tariffs on goods like cars, pharmaceuticals, copper, and lumber.
Still, though his top trade advisers have claimed there would be no exceptions for the reciprocal tariffs, Trump suggested earlier this week that might no longer be the case.
“I may give a lot of countries breaks,” he said Monday when asked about possible exceptions. “It’s reciprocal, but we might be even nicer than that. We’ve been very nice to a lot of countries for a long time.”
TRUMP TEASES TARIFF ‘BREAKS’ FOR SOME COUNTRIES AHEAD OF APRIL 2 RECIPROCAL ANNOUNCEMENT
“It will be a day where the United States of America will no longer be ripped off by nations around this world,” Leavitt said of the forthcoming announcement. “It will be a day where Americans finally see free and fair trade practices restored. We are no longer going to allow our allies, our competitors, and our adversaries to take advantage of American workers.”
Wednesday’s briefing can be viewed below.
