‘Big 3’ Automakers Get Brief Reprieve from Trump’s Tariffs

TIME

President Donald Trump is granting a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers, as worries persist that the newly launched trade war could crush domestic manufacturing.

Transcript

00:00A couple questions. One, can you confirm that the President held talks with the Big Three

00:03automakers today, speaking about potentially delaying tariffs?

00:07I can confirm, and I'm glad that you asked, because the President sent me out here with

00:10a statement directly from him on this. I saw it was reported earlier today by Bloomberg News,

00:16and he wanted me to share this with all of you. We spoke with the Big Three auto dealers. We are

00:21going to give a one-month exemption on any autos coming through USMCA. Reciprocal tariffs will

00:28still go into effect on April 2nd, but at the request of the companies associated with USMCA,

00:34the President is giving them an exemption for one month, so they are not at an economic

00:38disadvantage. So the three companies that he spoke to are Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors.

00:43They requested the call. They made the ask, and the President is happy to do it. It's a

00:48one-month exemption. On the reprieve that is being

00:50granted to these three automakers for one month on the tariffs on Canada and Mexico,

00:55how did the President settle on one month? The reciprocal tariffs will go into effect on

01:00April 2nd, and he feels strongly about that, no matter what, no exemption. So

01:05that's where the one month comes from. So does he expect them to be able to

01:08shift production within a month? He told them that they should get on it,

01:12start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America, where they

01:16will pay no tariff. That's the ultimate goal. President Trump has made clear, Caroline,

01:20that he loves tariffs, but the stock market does not. How does he factor that into his decision

01:26making? Well, the President does love tariffs. He said it's one of his favorite words of the

01:30English dictionary. And he believes in tariffs because they'll ultimately make America rich

01:35again. They're going to raise revenue. They're going to help us pay down our debt. Most importantly,

01:39they're going to bring American jobs here back home. So I think for folks on Wall Street who

01:43may be concerned, look at what this President did for you in his first term. Wall Street boomed,

01:47stock market boomed. The President expects that to happen again. But most importantly,

01:51Main Street is going to boom. And that's why the President has this whole-of-government

01:55economic approach, which includes tax cuts, tariffs, regulation cuts,

02:00and an energy industry that will bring down costs for American consumers.

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