Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
The U.S. will impose a 25% tariff on foreign-made automobile imports, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday, escalating his administration’s ongoing trade disputes.
“This is the beginning of Liberation Day in America,” Trump declared, promising that the move would trigger “tremendous growth” in the domestic auto industry.
“What we’re going to be doing is a 25% tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States… business is coming back to the United States so that they don’t have to pay tariffs… This will continue to spur growth like you haven’t seen before,” the U.S. President stated.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump emphasized that vehicles manufactured within the U.S. would be exempt.
“If you build your car in the United States, there will be no tariff. We’ll be announcing that fairly soon—probably over the next few days—and then April 2 comes, that’ll be reciprocal tariffs,” the U.S. President stated.
Auto stocks tumbled Wednesday as investors braced for the announcement, which was confirmed after the market close. Shares of Tesla dropped more than 5.5% during morning trading, while Lucid Group and Rivian fell 3% and 2%, respectively.
General Motors and Stellantis—among the most exposed to foreign manufacturing—each lost more than 3% during regular trading, with GM slipping an additional 4% and Stellantis down 2% after hours.
Earlier this month, White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro warned about the risk of Chinese carmakers entering the U.S. market without tariff barriers.
