This week, as he prepares to introduce new tariffs on foreign metals, President Trump vowed not to grant the types of common exclusions and exemptions during his first trade war.
But he has already lowered that harsh position on other tariffs. After lobbying from automakers, farmers and other industries, Trump quickly reverted the sweeping tariffs he imposed on Tuesday on all imports from Canada and Mexico. By Thursday, he had suspended these tariffs indefinitely on all products complying with the North American free trade transaction, the US Mexico and Canada Agreement or the USMCA.
This led to the industry and foreign governments to open up to lobby the administration ahead of the metal tariffs that will come into effect at 12:01am on Wednesday, as well as other taxes scheduled for April 2.
Foreign officials are seeking exemptions from steel and aluminum. At a meeting in Washington on Monday, the Japanese trade minister was also expected to seek a tariff exemption on cars that Trump said had come in April.
Matt Blunt, chairman of the U.S. Auto Policy Council, which represents the US automakers, said Ford Motor, General Motors and Stellantis have purchased most of steel and aluminum in the US or North America and are concerned about the tax impact.
Companies have been reviewing and waiting for details on the proposed tariffs, but were “concerned” by imposing them in Canada and Mexico to “add large costs to our suppliers.”
It is still unclear whether Trump will provide an exception to metal collection or future tariff exceptions like the cars and other products he says are coming in April. But the appeal of cutting transactions can be difficult for the president to resist. The ability to grant relief from priority industries or foreign governments highlights the immediate impact they have on him, one of the president's favorites on tariffs.
By threatening or imposing tariffs and then lifting them, the president was affected by tariffs, invading him and repeatedly decorated businesses and countries that invited praise and compliance. Foreign countries have offered to launch trade negotiations on Trump's goals, including strengthening US borders. And it's a force that the president may not like to give up.
“This is what authoritarians do: manipulate public policy and control it with personal and seemingly singular decisions.
Last week, General Motors executives Stellantis and Ford told the president by phone that tariffs on cars and parts from Canada and Mexico could have devastating consequences, including imposing billions of dollars in new costs and effectively erasing profits for all businesses.
When Trump gave him 30 days on Wednesday, they issued a positive statement. GM said to the president “Thanks for his approach, which will allow American automakers like GM to compete and invest in the country.” Ford said he is grateful for “President Trump's work to support our industry.”
On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance suggested that exclusions would not exceed automakers, saying the president “hopes tariffs will be widely applied.”
“He doesn't want to win 500 different sculptures in 500 different industries,” Vance argued.
But by Thursday, after a week of stock market turmoil, the president issued sculptures of all commodity trades under USMCA terms, including agricultural products, reducing the tariffs on Canadian potash from 25% to 10%.
Pushbacks from the farmers seemed to play a role. Provincial and national associations representing corn and soybean farmers had expressed concerns about the harm caused by tariffs on potash, a fertilizer imported from Canada. At city halls in Tennessee and Colorado, farmers organize for free trade, and lobbying groups, farmers and employers complained that rates could raise prices and lower revenues.
In a statement, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, thanked President Trump “who shows farmers' understanding by lowering the proposed tariffs on Canadian Cali.”
Republican objections to tariffs are being stifled, but lawmakers are trying to convey a message that they won't keep standing behind unless they see plans to remove tariffs, one person is familiar with the argument.
The Trump administration has repeatedly shown that it does not intend to undermine its own measures by exclusion. In a call with a reporter last month, Trump officials said such a transaction undermined the effectiveness of metal tariffs.
The President made a similar promise in the case of copper tariffs. He wrote on social media, “There are no exemptions, no exceptions!” – and about his “mutual tariff” plan. In an oval office last month, Trump said mutual tariffs would apply “to all at once.”
“This is a much easier method and a much better method,” the president said.
During his first term, Trump initially imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from countries such as China and Russia. But he placed them in some countries where the US imports most of the metals and did not invite them to come and negotiate instead, said Chad Bowun, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute.
South Korea, Argentina and Brazil have agreed to an allocation that restricts exports. Canada, Mexico, the European Union and others were hit by tariffs and retaliated.
Canada and Mexico then negotiated their own bargains as part of the USMCA signing under Trump. And when President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took office, he signed contracts with the European Union, the UK and Japan that gave them relief, Bown said.
Trump may leave the door open for his own personal dealings, but may not set up a formal exclusion system like his first semester. At the time, businesses were forced to apply for a customs exemption of hundreds of thousands with the help of the expensive K Street Law Firm in Washington.
The US Trade Representative, which handled China's tariff exclusion, filed more than 50,000 requests, and the Department of Commerce has received approximately 500,000 exclusion requests for tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Some lawyers and companies say that the exceptions are still severely necessary as not all the parts and raw materials they have to use are produced in the United States.
But some Trump supporters continue to fight exemptions that dilute the power of tariffs.
Nick Ikobella, executive vice president of the prosperous American Union in favor of tariffs, said the Trump administration “rightly recognizes that global steel and aluminum tariffs need to include downstream derivative products to be comprehensive and effective.”
An analysis by the group showed that past exemptions “a severely weakened American steel and aluminum producers, sacrificing thousands of jobs and undermining our financial security.”
In a letter Monday, five steel bodies wrote to express their support for tariffs and opposition to their exclusion.
The exclusion process was “exploited as a loophole by foreign producers trying to avoid tariffs,” they wrote.
Jack Ewing contributed the report.
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