Trump backs down on key part of tariff push: report

President Donald Trump is expected to ease the impact of his recently imposed auto tariffs, according to an exclusive report in the Wall Street Journal.

Under the new strategy, automakers paying the 25% tariff on foreign-made cars – which took effect earlier this month – will not be subject to additional duties, such as those on steel and aluminum, the report said. The move aims to prevent tariffs from stacking on top of each other and to soften the financial "blow" for car manufactures, people familiar with the plan told the Journal.

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“The move would be retroactive, the people said, meaning that automakers could be reimbursed for such tariffs already paid,” according to the report, which added that the policy change will also ease some levies on foreign parts used in manufacturing vehicles inside the United States.

It would likely provide “a significant boost to automakers in the short term,” the Journal added. The publication noted that it wasn’t immediately clear where the reimbursement funds for automakers would come from.