It appears some key industries facing the threat of new U.S. tariffs may be spared from President Donald Trump’s next shot in his global trade war — at least for the moment.
Speaking on background, a White House official told CBC News that despite Trump’s repeated threats about sector-specific tariffs, they may not actually happen next month.
“Obviously POTUS has talked a lot about sectoral tariffs, but we may have sectoral tariffs on April 2 and we may not,” the official said in an email.
“No final decisions have been made yet on sectoral tariffs being tacked onto reciprocal for April 2 timeline.”
The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News first reported the potential change to Trump’s tariff plans.
This kind of language is in line with the unpredictable nature of the Trump administration’s decisions around trade.
Trump is expected to introduce reciprocal tariffs on April 2, which he has argued will be based on fairness: If a country has tariffs on U.S. goods, it will be targeted. Or if a country has economic policies or trade barriers the Trump administration views as unfair to American businesses and workers, it could also be hit.
Canada has been told by Trump officials it will be hit with reciprocal tariffs, though it remains unclear what that tariff rate will be.
But Trump has also spent weeks warning that he would also impose industry-specific tariffs using the same timeline, including for the auto sector.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary says tariffs coming into effect on April 2 could be a starting point for governments to negotiate, but other Trump officials added to the confusion by saying the tariffs are firm.
For example, Trump said in February that he intended to impose auto tariffs “in the neighbourhood of 25 per cent” and similar duties on semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports, but he later agreed to delay some auto tariffs after a push by the three largest U.S. automakers for a waiver.
The new comment from the White House on Monday suggests that may not be the case after all.
Trump’s whirlwind tariff offensive since his January inauguration has been marked by threats, reversals and delays, sometimes within hours of imposition deadlines.
So far, he has imposed new 20 per cent duties on Chinese imports, fully restored 25 per cent duties on global steel and aluminum imports, and slapped 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico that do not comply with a North American trade agreement, linking those to the U.S. fentanyl overdose crisis.
Two senior Trump officials — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett — said last week that the administration is expected to focus the much anticipated April 2 reciprocal tariff announcement on a narrower set of countries with the biggest trade surpluses and high tariff and non-tariff barriers.
