970x125
President Trump signed a Friday proclamation intended to offset the impact of auto tariffs with an expansion of credits for eligible car manufacturers.
Automakers who import car parts to the U.S. will receive 3.75 percent offset from the vehicle’s listed retail price until 2030 under the Friday order. Originally, the program was set to expire in 2027.
The White House said the percentage reflects the expected tax when a 25 percent tariff is applied to 15 percent of the value of a U.S.-assembled automobile.
The Friday executive order also set a 10 percent tariff on imports of buses and implemented new 25 percent tariffs on imported medium- and heavy-duty trucks starting on Nov. 1.
The move from the White House comes after carmakers reported around a billion dollars in projected losses from the Trump administration’s new trade policies earlier this year. Lobbying groups have pushed for relief amid the changes.
In April, Trump issued an executive order that shielded manufacturers from being hit twice by the president’s auto tariffs.
A senior administration official on Friday said “the idea here is we want to incentivize domestic manufacturing vehicles, and one way to do that is to say that, all right, if we understand that not 100 percent of a vehicle can be used with goods that are already here in the United States.”
“And so for the parts that do need to be imported, we are essentially allowing a credit so that they can offset any tariff liability that they would accrue, because they are importing parts just to manufacture here in the United States,” the official added.
