President Trump said on Wednesday that he would stop invoices in cars coming to the United States from Canada and Mexico for a month, after a 25 % invoice set to America’s nearest commercial partners one day earlier shopping for stock markets.
Karoline Leavitt, a White House Secretary, read a statement from Mr Trump on Wednesday, saying that the White House had spoken to the three largest car manufacturers and that one month would be given the exception to cars coming through the United States-Mexico-Canadian agreement.
“At the request of the USMCA companies, the president gives them a discharge for a month so that they are not on a financial disadvantage,” the statement said. The three automakers with which Mr Trump talked were General Motors, Ford Motor and Stelantis.
Asked why Mr Trump has only given one month suspension, Mrs Leavitt said the president expects the automakers to move production back to the United States. The message, he said, was to “take it to it, start investing, starting moving, shifting production here to the United States of America, where they will not pay invoices”.
The suspension was a demonstration of the accidental approach that Mr Trump took over in commercial policy, with the president announcing, stopping and then pursuing a policy that has a profound influence on North America’s economy in a few weeks. The decision came after Mr Trump hosted a teleconference on Tuesday with Mary T. Barra, Managing Director of General Motors. John Elkann, President of Stelandis. William C. Ford, President of Ford Motor. And Jim Farley, Managing Director of Ford, according to a person informed of the call.
Executives told the president that installing invoices in cars and spare parts from Canada and Mexico would effectively delete all their companies’ profits by imposing billions of new expenditure on them, the person said. They argued that cars built in these countries supported jobs in the United States in accessories, representatives and other related businesses.
They said they had invested in factories across North America because they were secured by NAFTA and USMCA, the trade agreement that Mr Trump negotiated with Canada and Mexico in his first term, that Epirus would be a free trade zone, the person said. Changing the rules of this zone would have devastating consequences.
Executives from the three companies said they would not oppose invoices imposed on cars imported from external North America, the person said. In addition to Canada and Mexico, the United States is importing a large number of cars from Japan, South Korea and Germany.
It was not clear what the postponement for highways, such as the BMW, that manufacture cars in Mexico, but do not fully comply with the terms of the trade treaty, mean. Currently, BMW pays a 2.5 % invoice for importing a factory in San Luis Potosí in Mexico. BMW also carries cars at Spartanburg, SC, which is one of the largest factories in the German company.
Mr Trump said the contributions were intended to take Canada and Mexico to stop drugs and immigrants on the US border. However, after months of threats, he chose to put in place the honors this week, even after the impact of Canada and Mexico to dedicate more resources to policing border and drug trade.
The leaders of Mexico and Canada called on Mr Trump to eliminate the invoices, saying they were unfair and unjustified.
But Mr Trump refused to offer a wider postponement to Canada, despite the fresh prophecies of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mr Trump wrote in social media that he had spoken to Mr Trudeau and was not yet convinced that Canada had done enough to stop the flow of fentanyl at the border.
In the truth, Mr Trump wrote that he had told Mr Trudeau that “many people were dying from Fentanyl who came through the border of Canada and Mexico and nothing convinced me that he had stopped”.
The president added: “He said it was better, but I said,” This is not good enough. ”
The data shows that only a small amount of fentanyl enters the United States through Canada and the Canadians have been launched for the claim that they are an important source of drugs for the United States.
On Tuesday, Canada requested consultations with the United States at the World Trade Organization for invoices, saying they had violated the United States’ promises to the WTO
Vice President JD Vance and Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of the Commerce, were on the call with Mr Trump and Mr Trudeau. The debate lasted 50 minutes, a senior Canadian official said, adding that the president brought access to the Canadian Market Market for US Producers.
Mr Lutnick and Canada’s finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc, will continue the debate throughout the day to find a gradual compromise. Mr Trudeau is not prepared to lift Canada’s invoices to US goods, the official said, but it is open to consider the selective duties reduction or removal if the United States decides to remove or reduce tariffs in specific Canadian goods. The official spoke under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to inform the press about the ongoing negotiations.
At a press conference on Wednesday, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly, “we will not submit”.
Mrs Sheinbaum said she had called with Mr Trump scheduled for Thursday, but had no updates or information about Mr Lutnick’s allegations about a change in invoices. He said that if the invoices remained in their position, the Mexican government would announce retaliation on Sunday, when he has also called a demonstration in the city of Mexico.
“Among all of us, we must defend our sovereignty,” he said.
Ms Sheinbaum also said that, in response to invoices, her government had already offered new trade partnerships, including Canada and Chile.
“We will look to have more agreements and partnerships with other countries,” he said.
Mr Trump’s move to impose a 25 % invoice on most products from Canada and all products from Mexico, as well as an additional 10 % invoice on all imports from China, caused the worldwide marketplace to fall worldwide on Tuesday, before shares for some industries.
The shares of some automakers bounced on Wednesday in the hope that Mr Trump would reduce his invoices in Canada and Mexico. General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis Rose Rose. Most car manufacturers are based on factories and suppliers in these countries for cars and spare parts and cannot easily or quickly shift production in the United States.
A one -month suspension will do little to resolve the industry’s long -term exposure to Mr Trump’s tariff parade. They include steel and aluminum invoices that come into force on 12 March and “reciprocal” contributions that Mr Trump plans to impose on April 2.
But it can give automakers the opportunity to store cars and spare parts that are manufactured in Mexico and Canada and to alleviate the impact if invoices were later entered.
Kevin Roberts, director of financial and information market in Cargurus, online vehicle shopping site, said it was not realistic to expect that car companies could transfer their plants to the United States in a month.
“The automotive industry is so global and so much interconnected. You will not be able to shift a large production in a month,” Mr Roberts said.
A 25 % invoice will add almost $ 12,000 to the average price of a car coming from Canada, Mr Roberts estimates and $ 10,000 at the average price of a car imported from Mexico.
Annie Correal; Matina Stevis-Gridneff; Vikas Baitz and Neal e. boudette They contributed reports.
