Trump suggests he might impose auto tariffs on April 2

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he could impose tariffs on auto imports beginning April 2, a move that would further strain trade relations with North American neighbors, Europe and the rest of the world.

Trump made the statement in response to a reporter’s questions about when he could follow through on a previous threat to impose auto duties.

“Maybe around April 2,” Trump said during an executive order signing ceremony in the Oval Office. That would be one day after a slew of trade reports on potential tariff actions are due at the White House under an executive order he signed on Inauguration Day.

Context: Last year, the United States imported $471 billion worth of auto products. That included $214 billion worth of cars, $192 billion worth of parts and $65 billion worth of trucks, buses and special purpose vehicles.

The biggest foreign supplier of cars was Mexico ($49 billion), followed by Japan ($40 billion), South Korea ($37 billion), Canada ($28 billion) and Germany ($25 billion).

Mexico, Canada and South Korea currently have duty-free access to the United States for most of their cars, assuming they meet the auto “rules of origin” provisions under the free trade agreements they have with the United States.

However, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is already in danger of becoming irrelevant because of Trump’s threat to impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada due to concerns about border security. The president initially threatened to impose those tariffs earlier this month but paused them until March 12 as government leaders negotiate.

On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order that sets the stage for him to impose country-by-country reciprocal tariff rates in the coming weeks or months, based on the an assessment of each country’s tariffs and other trade barriers.

Any auto tariffs could potentially be in addition to those reciprocal tariff rates.