Facing market pressure and GOP pushback, Trump delays auto tariffs

When President Donald Trump declared in the House Chamber this week that executives at the nation’s top automakers were “so excited” about their prospects amid his new tariff regime, it did not entirely reflect the conversation he’d held with them earlier that day.

When President Donald Trump declared in the House Chamber this week that executives at the nation’s top automakers were “so excited” about their prospects amid his new tariff regime, it did not entirely reflect the conversation he’d held with them earlier that day. Ford Motors, GM and Stellantis argued on that call that the new 25% tariffs the president applied on Canada and Mexico earlier this week could disadvantage their American-based businesses in favor of foreign carmakers — appealing directly to Trump for a reprieve, administration officials said. The message seemed to break through. A day later, after the automakers talked to Trump again, the White House announced a one-month exemption from the tariffs for autos coming into the United States. “The president is happy to do it,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday, announcing the change. For as often as Trump talks about tariffs, he is often talked out of imposing them – especially if the pressure is coming from titans of industry or the market, a barometer that Trump carefully follows. And as he works to realign global trade using his favorite tool, the president has made clear the threat of tariffs is as much a motivator as the actual thing.