Trump to offer automakers some relief on his 25% tariffs, after worries they could hurt US factories

WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Tuesday to relax several of his tariffs on autos and auto parts the White House announced a considerable reversal as the import taxes threatened to hurt domestic manufacturers Automakers and independent analyses have indicated that the tariffs could raise prices reduce sales and make U S production less competitive worldwide White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated at a Tuesday briefing that Trump would sign the order later in the day but declined to provide details on the order Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who joined Leavitt at the White House briefing disclosed the goal was to enable automakers to create more domestic manufacturing jobs President Trump has had meetings with both domestic and foreign auto producers and he s committed to bringing back auto production to the U S Bessent explained So we want to give the automakers a path to do that fleetly efficiently and create as numerous jobs as workable The Wall Street Journal disclosed that the order involves changes in how the import taxes would be enforced to prevent multiple tariffs from being charged on foreign-made vehicles and reducing tariffs on parts imported to make autos domestically The changes would also be retroactive The tariffs imposed by Trump were seen by selected as an existential threat to the auto sector Arthur Laffer whom Trump gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to during his first term reported in a private analysis that the tariffs without any modifications could add to the cost of a van The modifications come as Trump marks days back in the White House by going to Michigan a state defined by auto manufacturing Trump won the state in last year s referendum by promising to increase factory jobs Still it remains unclear what impact Trump s broader tariffs will have on the U S commercial sector and auto sales Majority economists say the tariffs which could ultimately hit preponderance imports would raise prices and slow economic expansion possibly hurting auto sales despite the relief that the administration intends to offer on its previous policies