President Donald Trump is granting a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers, as worries persist that the newly launched trade war could crush domestic manufacturing.
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00:00A couple questions. One, can you confirm that the President held talks with the Big Three
00:03automakers today, speaking about potentially delaying tariffs?
00:07I can confirm, and I'm glad that you asked, because the President sent me out here with
00:10a statement directly from him on this. I saw it was reported earlier today by Bloomberg News,
00:16and he wanted me to share this with all of you. We spoke with the Big Three auto dealers. We are
00:21going to give a one-month exemption on any autos coming through USMCA. Reciprocal tariffs will
00:28still go into effect on April 2nd, but at the request of the companies associated with USMCA,
00:34the President is giving them an exemption for one month, so they are not at an economic
00:38disadvantage. So the three companies that he spoke to are Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors.
00:43They requested the call. They made the ask, and the President is happy to do it. It's a
00:48one-month exemption. On the reprieve that is being
00:50granted to these three automakers for one month on the tariffs on Canada and Mexico,
00:55how did the President settle on one month? The reciprocal tariffs will go into effect on
01:00April 2nd, and he feels strongly about that, no matter what, no exemption. So
01:05that's where the one month comes from. So does he expect them to be able to
01:08shift production within a month? He told them that they should get on it,
01:12start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America, where they
01:16will pay no tariff. That's the ultimate goal. President Trump has made clear, Caroline,
01:20that he loves tariffs, but the stock market does not. How does he factor that into his decision
01:26making? Well, the President does love tariffs. He said it's one of his favorite words of the
01:30English dictionary. And he believes in tariffs because they'll ultimately make America rich
01:35again. They're going to raise revenue. They're going to help us pay down our debt. Most importantly,
01:39they're going to bring American jobs here back home. So I think for folks on Wall Street who
01:43may be concerned, look at what this President did for you in his first term. Wall Street boomed,
01:47stock market boomed. The President expects that to happen again. But most importantly,
01:51Main Street is going to boom. And that's why the President has this whole-of-government
01:55economic approach, which includes tax cuts, tariffs, regulation cuts,
02:00and an energy industry that will bring down costs for American consumers.