President Donald Trump has delayed tariffs on automobile imports from Canada and Mexico for one month after requests from executives at the Big Three automakers — General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis — with the expectation that automakers will move any offshore operations to the United States by April 2.
The reprieve, which Politico first reported, comes less than two days after Trump issued 25% tariffs on all goods from the U.S.’s neighbors, which had previously been duty-free under a North American trade agreement (sometimes characterized as NAFTA 2.0) negotiated during his first term. The exemption applies to automakers that comply with the USMCA, per The Wall Street Journal.
Several automakers, including the Big Three, have complex supply chains and operate several manufacturing facilities in Mexico and Canada. For example, GM produces its Chevy Equinox in Mexico and Canada, and both Ford’s Lincoln Nautilus SUVs and Stellantis’s Dodge Chargers are made in Ontario. Multiple automotive suppliers also have factories in the two countries.
Car prices are already at historic highs, and the tariffs threaten to send sticker prices skyrocketing by as much as $12,000, according to Jeff Schott, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who was interviewed by the Detroit Free Press. That could lead to less demand, leaving dealers stuck with unaffordable cars on their lots.
In an address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump urged manufacturers to move their operations onshore. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a briefing Wednesday that Trump expects GM, Ford, and Stellantis to shift production to the U.S. before the tariffs kick off at the end of the month.
“He told them that they should get on it,” Leavitt said.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said last month at an investor talk the company doesn’t have excess capacity at its plants to shift production. Farley noted that Ford could withstand tariffs in the short term, but if they persisted, they “would blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we’ve never seen.”
Through February, nearly half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. were built in the U.S., but 17.4% of them were built in Mexico, and 7.4% in Canada, according to data from Edmunds.com.
“Since President Trump’s successful USMCA was signed, Ford has invested billions in the United States and committed to billions more in the future to both invest in American workers and ensure all of our vehicles comply with USMCA,” reads a statement from Ford. “We will continue to have a healthy and candid dialogue with the Administration to help achieve a bright future for our industry and U.S. manufacturing.”
This article has been updated with information from the White House press secretary and a statement from Ford.
