Trump to announce new auto tariffs Wednesday

Trump to announce new auto tariffs Wednesday
By: cnbc Posted On: March 26, 2025 View: 52

U.S. President Donald Trump holds paperwork he signed during an Ambassador Meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 25, 2025.
Win McNamee | Getty Images

President Donald Trump will announce new tariffs on auto imports Wednesday, the White House said.

Trump will unveil the new tariffs during a press conference in the Oval Office, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. The event was slated for 4 p.m. ET, but as of 5 p.m. had not begun.

Trump on Monday had hinted that the auto tariffs could arrive prior to April 2, the day his sweeping "reciprocal tariff" plan is set to begin.

"We'll be announcing that fairly soon over the next few days, probably, and then April 2 comes, that'll be reciprocal tariffs," he said at a Cabinet meeting.

Stocks fell to session lows after the new tariff plans were announced.

A truck carrying vehicles prepares to cross into the U.S. from Canada at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, on March 8, 2025.
Geoff Robins | Afp | Getty Images

Trump has long signaled his plans to impose heavy tariffs on foreign trading partners. But his unpredictable and frequently shifting policy rollouts have stirred turmoil in the stock market and left business leaders uncertain about how to plan for the future.

Trump has hyped April 2 as "liberation day" and "the big one." His plan, as originally described, would slap reciprocal tariffs on all countries that have their own import duties on U.S. goods, while also imposing tariffs in response to other disfavored trade policies, such as the use of value-added taxes.

But Trump and his officials have recently suggested that the tariffs coming April 2 could end up being softer than they first appeared.

Trump said Friday that "there'll be flexibility" on those tariffs, and on Tuesday night suggested the duties will be more "lenient than reciprocal." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that countries can pre-negotiate with the U.S. to avoid facing new tariffs on April 2.

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