Donald Trump has announced plans to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imported cars, semiconductor chips and pharmaceuticals, marking a significant escalation in his administration's trade policies.
The former president said he would "probably" announce automotive tariffs on April 2, whilst duties on semiconductors and drugs would start at 25 per cent and increase "substantially higher" over the course of a year.
The move comes as Trump seeks to reshape America's trading relationships, particularly with the European Union and other major economic partners.
Trump told reporters the automotive tariffs would be "in the neighbourhood of 25 per cent", with final details expected within weeks.
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Donald Trump has threatened massive tariffs on imported cars PA/REUTERSThe move represents the latest in a series of threatened trade measures since Trump returned to office last month.
Donald Trump has long criticised what he sees as unfair treatment of US automotive exports in foreign markets.
The EU currently imposes a 10 per cent duty on vehicle imports, compared to the US passenger car tariff rate of 2.5 per cent.
He explained: "When they come into the United States, and they have their plant or factory here, there is no tariff."
The president said he wanted to provide time for drug and chip makers to establish US factories to avoid the tariffs.
Trump claimed he expected some of the world's largest companies to announce new US investments in the coming weeks.
Industry leaders have expressed serious concerns about the impact of the proposed tariffs.
Ford CEO Jim Farley warned that a 25 per cent tariff on Mexico and Canada "will blow a hole in the US industry that we have never seen", speaking at an investor conference in New York last week.
EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič has arrived in Washington for three days of talks aimed at averting further escalation of trade tensions.
Trump used the occasion to criticise the EU's trade practices, stating: "The EU has been very unfair to us. They don't take our cars, they don't take our farmed products, they don't take almost anything."
Trump also suggested that Brussels had already agreed to reduce car import tariffs, though the European Commission quickly denied this.
"No specific offer on reducing tariffs has been made by either side", the Commission said, adding that any reductions must be "mutually beneficial and negotiated within a fair and rules-based framework".
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Ford warned that tariffs could have a devastating impact on the economy
PAPresident Trump also hinted at imposing further tariffs, saying that the UK Government and EU was "way out of line".
He said: "We'll see ... but the European Union is really out of line. The UK is out of line, but I think that one can be worked out. But the European Union is an atrocity, what they've done."
