United States president Donald Trump has said he might temporarily exempt the auto industry from tariffs he previously imposed on the sector to provide automakers time to adjust their supply chains, reports Associated Press.
“I’m looking at something to help some of the car companies with it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday (April 14, 2025). “And they need a little bit of time because they’re going to make them here, but they need a little bit of time. So, I’m talking about things like that,” he added.
The 25% tariff on cars imported into the US has been in effect since April 3, while a separate 25% levy on car parts will be activated on May 3. Several automakers have either temporarily paused car shipments or halted production as they try to come to grips with how to deal with these tariffs.
Should Trump decide to grant an exemption, it will be yet another round of reversal on tariffs. Last week, the US president announced that dozens of countries faced with individualised tariffs (up to 50%) would instead face a baseline 10% for 90 days to give time for negotiations.
China was excluded from this and instead got a tariff hike to 145%. However, smartphones, laptops and a host of other tech components made in China were spared from the high reciprocal tariffs and were instead charged at a lower 20% rate.
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Aiyo, this guy is worse than Malaysian politician. Flip-flopping everyday
Malaysia has so high tariff for foreign cars that made so much cronies and low quality national cars that milk the people for decades also no problem want to follow suit.