On Monday, Apr 15, President Donald Trump stated he may permit temporary exemptions to tariffs on imported vehicles and parts to allow more time for automobile manufacturers to shift production to the United States.
Since Trump’s ongoing trade actions have increased costs and disrupted supply chains, the timing for potential relief could not be better for Detroit’s champions—Ford, GM, and Stellantis.
“They need a little bit of time,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “They’re switching to parts made in Canada, Mexico, and other places, and they’re going to make them here.”
While the President did not indicate how long these exemptions will last, the signaling of a potential halt helped bolster a bounce in automaker shares, as GM, Ford and Stellantis all regained earlier session losses.
However, outside of Detroit, the effects will also reverberate through the tech sectors that are increasingly being drawn into Trump’s shifting trade war.
Trump indicated that he would entertain short-term tariff relief for car parts, and short-term relief for tech companies – particularly Apple and Nvidia – from his broad 125% tariffs on goods from China and a 10% baseline tariff globally.
“I helped Tim Cook recently,” Trump commented, referring to Apple’s CEO, saying it was just the right thing to do in terms of breathing room for U.S. companies. However, this may only be short-term.
Trump cautioned that there could be tech-related tariffs that could happen for certain sectors, so it is hard to know how long relief for companies like Apple, Nvidia, and crypto miners who use offshore hardware can avoid higher costs of imports. This uncertainty keeps the markets skittish as no one quite knows what sectors are going to be winners – and for how long.
At the time of writing, the global crypto market cap stands at $2.69 trillion, down by 0.17% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin is sitting at $84,883.61, up 0.03% over the last day.
