US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States would be imposing a on cars and light trucks imported into the US.
said the tariffs would be permanent and go into effect on April 2. The duties are expected to be collected starting April 3, Trump said.
Some 50% of cars sold in the United States are manufactured domestically.
The White House has said the tariffs are meant to boost domestic manufacturing.
“This will continue to spur growth like you haven’t seen before,” Trump told reporters.
The Trump administration said it expects to raise $100 billion (€93 billion) in revenue annually from the tariffs.
Nevertheless, targeting imported cars could raise tensions with countries like Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico and Germany, all of which are close US partners.
Also, US automakers source their components from around the world, so they risk facing higher costs and lower sales.
EU ‘deeply regrets’ tariff decision
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen swiftly rebuked Trump’s tariff announcement.
“I deeply regret the US decision to impose tariffs on European automotive exports,” von der Leyen said in a statement.
“As I have said before, tariffs are taxes — bad for businesses, worse for consumers equally in the US and the European Union,” she added.
“As a major trading power and a strong community of 27 Member States, we will jointly protect our workers, businesses and consumers across our European Union,” Von der Leyen said.
She added that Trump’s latest announcement and “other measures the US is envisaging in the next days” would be now assessed.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
The post Trump announces ‘permanent’ tariffs on foreign cars appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
