President Donald Trump said he would likely impose tariffs on automobile, semiconductor and pharmaceutical imports of around 25%, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2.
The new duties, if implemented, would widen the president’s trade war. Trump previously announced 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum that are set to take effect in March, but Tuesday’s comments are his most detailed yet in specifying other sectors that would be hit with fresh barriers.
"I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25%,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs.
Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductor chips, the president said: "It’ll be 25% and higher, and it’ll go very substantially higher over a course of a year.” Trump said he wanted to give companies "time to come in” before announcing new import taxes.
"When they come into the United States and they have their plant or factory here there is no tariff, so we want to give them a little bit of a chance,” he said.
Trump has also threatened other streams of tariffs, all part of an effort to reconfigure the U.S. trading relationships across the globe. The president has long accused other countries of ripping off the U.S. and views import duties as a way to bring industries back to America and collect more revenue. Many economists say they would raise consumer prices for Americans and stymie the fight against inflation.
The president has said he would apply "reciprocal” levies on a country-by-country basis as soon as April, though specifics are still being determined. He has also threatened duties on some of the country's biggest trading partners, such as a 10% rate already applied to China and 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico that have been deferred until at least March 4. The measures would stack on top of one another, meaning that Mexican and Canadian producers in certain sectors could pay as many as three tariffs.
Altogether, Trump’s moves, if enacted, would remake supply chains and trade flows — and U.S. prices. Tariffs are paid by importers and often passed onto consumers, though sometimes offset by price reductions abroad.
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