Automotive excluded from temporary tariff relief
Car manufacturers have acknowledged that there would have been no benefit for them from the short-lived good news about tariffs on May 28.
A federal court blocked most of the tariffs that the US put in place in April on almost all imports from almost all trading partners.
US president, Donald Trump, had said he wanted to use executive power under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to make importers pay more to bring overseas-made goods into the US. But the Court of International Trade found that the president lacked the authority to impose the tariffs.
However, because additional tariffs on automotive had been announced before April, the Court of International Trade’s action did not extend to them.
In the event, the Court of International Trade’s ruling is on hold.
On May 29, the US Court of Appeals said it was pausing the ruling until it hears further legal arguments. Court hearings on the tariffs will, therefore, continue, but automotive will not be among the industries that stand to gain.
The BBC reported that it had spoken to the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders and that the understanding among industry representatives was that there would be no change to the situation regarding exports of cars to the US.
A 2% tariff was already in place on automotive imports before this year. An additional tariff of 25% that President Trump announced in March had gone through what the BBC called “a more formal process” than those the president imposed in April. Therefore, shipments of cars to the US market will continue to carry a 27.5% tariff for the time being.
