Trump will now disregard specific sectors when his wave of “reciprocal tariffs” are imposed on April 2.
Shares of the United States’ leading automotive brands all saw gains on Monday amid reports that the Trump administration would exclude a set of sector-specific tariffs on April 2.
Trump said in February that, come April, he intends to apply tariffs of around 25% on sectors including automotive and pharmaceutical, but the Wall Street Journal reports that he is now likely to suspend such sector-specific levies.
U.S. automotive stocks popped in response, with the nation’s second-largest manufacturer, Ford (NYSE:F), gaining close to 4% in the session’s first hour of trading. GM (NYSE:GM) and Stellantis (BIT:STLAM), America’s first and third largest automakers, also gained nearly 2% each.
The carmaking trio has been somewhat influential in Trump’s tariff policies thus far, having recently pressured the U.S. President into applying a one-month delay to tariffs on vehicles built in America.
The automakers urged Trump to disregard the 25% tariffs for Mexico and Canada on vehicles that comply with the US.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s (USMCA) rules.
Reciprocal tariffs still to take effect
Trump’s swathe of “reciprocal tariffs” will still come into effect on April 2, with the 47th President taking aim at a series of major economies.
Trump has already pledged to impose levies of 20 and 25% on products such as steel and aluminum, but is expected to step things up further.
However, many investors appear to be undeterred, with the S&P 500 notching up more than 1.4% on Monday morning, its highest level since early march.
The U.S. equity benchmark is also up 4%, while the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.2%
But the so-called “magnificent seven” (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla) were the biggest winners, with the recently troubled Tesla leading the pack to produce gains of 7%.
