US President Donald Trump, after a gap of a week, has come back with his tariff regime. In a major development that could shake the automobile and mobility industry at large, Trump, while speaking at the Oval office, announced a flat 25 per cent tariff on all automobiles made outside of the United States.
25% Tariff on Automobiles
Trump, while speaking on the matter, once again resorted to his regular rhetoric of the United States’ vast market with immense buying capability being exploited by external players who sell their vehicles in the US.
Trump termed this as an act of liberation and said, “So, this is the beginning of Liberation Day in America. We’re going to take back just some of the money that has been taken from us by people sitting behind this desk or another desk. That’s not quite as nice, but they have their choice of seven, as you know.”
Foes, Not Friends
“And we’re going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth, taking a lot of things that they’ve been taking over the years. They’ve taken so much out of our country, friend and foe. And, frankly, friend has been oftentimes much worse than foe.”, Trump grudgingly added.
He further reiterated the US is going to be doing is a 25 per cent tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States. If they’re made in the United States, there’s absolutely no tariff.
We started with a two-and-a-half percent base, which is what we were at. And we go to 25 percent.
These tariff are expected to come into effect from next week.
Foreign Investments In The US
He also invoked the investments made by other companies in the US. He said, Honda is building one of the biggest plants.
Warning carmakers, he further added, “So we’ll effectively be charging a 25 percent tariff. But if you build your car in the United States, there is no tariff. And what that means is a lot of foreign car companies, a lot of companies are going to be in great shape because they’ve already built their plant.”
Trump also shared another post on Truth Social in which he announced the amount of investments made by various foreign companies in the US.
These developments come right at the back of a major controversy that broke out after some confidential and highly classified US war plans on its attack on Houthis in Yemen slipped out, after American publication Atlantic’s Editor-in-chief, Jeff Goldberg was accidentally added to a Signal text chain, that was discussing the matter.
