Trump temporarily spares carmakers from US tariffs on Canada and Mexico
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After a call with top executives at GM, Ford, and Stellantis, president approves one-month exemption from tariffs



New General Motors vehicles are parked at the company’s assembly plant in Lansing, Michigan, on Tuesday. Photograph: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

 has temporarily spared carmakers from sweeping  on goods from  and , one day after an economic strike on the US’s two biggest trading partners sparked warnings of widespread price increases and disruption.

The US president extended his aggressive trade strategy at midnight on Tuesday by targeting the country’s two closest neighbors with duties of 25%.

US retail giants  on store shelves almost immediately, raising questions about Trump’s promises to “make America affordable again” after years of heightened inflation.

After a call with top executives at General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis, however, Trump approved a one-month exemption from tariffs on “any autos coming through” the US, , and Canada, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, announced on Wednesday.

The exemption has been granted “at the request of the companies”, Leavitt told reporters, “so they are not at an economic disadvantage”.

While Trump has claimed tariffs will embolden US industry by forcing global firms to build factories in the US, Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley, publicly cautioned last month that imposing steep tariffs on  and Mexico could “blow a hole” in the country’s auto industry.

Shares in large carmakers rose sharply, with GM up 7.2%, Ford up 5.8%, and Stellantis up 9% in New York. The benchmark S&P 500 increased 1.1% on Wall Street.

A separate call between Trump and Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, did not lead to any larger breakthrough, however. Trudeau “largely caused the problems we have with them because of his Weak Border Policies”, Trump declared on his Truth Social platform after they spoke. “These Policies are responsible for the death of many people!”

Trudeau insisted there had been improvements at the border, the US president claimed, adding that he told him this was “not good enough”.

After the US imposed tariffs this week Trump, : “Even though you’re a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do.”

During Trump’s  on Tuesday evening, he acknowledged that tariffs would cause disruption. There will be “a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that”, he said.

He blamed cost of living challenges on his predecessor, Joe Biden, from whom he claimed to have inherited “an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare”.

The  has, in fact, remained resilient in recent years, and inflation has fallen dramatically from its peak – at the highest level in a generation – three years ago.

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