U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Seaside, Florida, U.S., Feb. 18, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
President Donald Trump mentioned he could broaden the scope of U.S. tariffs on imports to incorporate cars, prescribed drugs and semiconductors.
In remarks to reporters Tuesday, Trump mentioned the duties can be round 25% and “go very considerably greater over a course of a 12 months.” The president didn’t point out whether or not the brand new tariffs would apply to all autos coming into the U.S. or be focused towards sure international locations however mentioned they may begin as early as April 2.
Nevertheless, the risk represents a broadening within the administration’s aggressive commerce coverage that already has included 25% tariffs on metal and aluminum imports set to take impact in March.
The nations with the largest auto exports to the U.S. are Mexico, Japan and Canada.
Trump mentioned the tariffs already are having the specified impact, with firms domiciled abroad wanting to come back again to the U.S.
“I have been contacted by among the greatest firms on the earth, and due to what we’re doing economically and thru tariffs and incentives, they wish to come again into the US,” he mentioned.
“After they come again into the US and so they have their plant or manufacturing unit right here, there is no such thing as a tariff,” Trump added. “So we wish to give them slightly little bit of an opportunity.”
On prescribed drugs, the nations feeling the largest affect seemingly can be Japan and India. The financial affect can be unclear, although the tariffs may worsen prices and trigger shortages initially.
“The tariffs may drive up drug costs for US sufferers, exacerbate drug provide shortages, and push producers to hunt various markets,” mentioned Ophelia Chan, senior enterprise fundamentals analyst at GlobalData. Chan additionally famous that firms within the trade “could reply by relocating manufacturing and trials to the US or different tariff-free international locations, although the total results are nonetheless unsure.”
On semiconductors, Trump didn’t point out after they would occur. These levies would affect Taiwan Semiconductor, which supplies chips to firms together with Nvidia and Apple.
