President Trump said on Friday that he was planning to go to foreign cars on April 2, but did not specify how much the invoices would be or what nations could be targeted.
Asked when he could impose car invoices during observations at the Oval Office, Mr Trump said: “Maybe around April 2.” He said he had planned to announce the invoices on April 1st, which is the day of April fools, but that it was “a little preventive”.
“We’ll do it on April 2, I think. Is it right?”
Mr Trump has already proposed various commercial measures in his first weeks, which could have major consequences for the automotive industry.
Mr Trump has announced plans to impose 25 % invoices starting on March 12th for foreign steel and aluminum, which are important inflows for the automotive industry.
He proposed a 25 % invoice to all imports from Canada and Mexico, which provide raw materials and spare parts and host production areas for large automakers. Mr Trump has stopped total invoices by March 4, as he is negotiating with countries on drug concessions and immigrants. But he went earlier this month with an additional 10 % invoice in China, which is also an important car spare parts supplier.
On Thursday, the president also revealed the details of a “mutual invoice” plan, where he ordered his advisers to find new invoices to charge other countries based on invoices, taxes and the other commercial behavior that the president considered “unfair”.
He said the plan could lead to invoices from April 2 and has been particularly protested about European invoices in US cars. The European Union charges a 10 % invoice to US vehicles. The United States is charging a 2.5 % invoice to European cars – though it charges a 25 % invoice to light trucks.
Car manufacturers depend on extremely global and integrated supply chains. Dozens of billions of dollars worth of end -cars, engines, broadcasts and other accessories are sent to the US border with Canada and Mexico each week, while billions of dollars are imported from spare parts manufacturers in China.
The automakers have supported the impact of invoices and have predicted significant job losses. Earlier this week, Ford’s CEO Jim Farley said a 25 percent invoice for Canadian and Mexican products would “blow a hole in the US industry we have never seen”.
