The car parts manufactured in Mexico and Canada will be temporarily exempt from 25% tariffs that the Trump administration will begin applying on April 2 to imports of the automotive sector.
The law decree signed on Wednesday by the US president also establishes that cars made in Mexico and Canada will be applied to tariffs to the content made outside the United States, which would mean a partial tax to those vehicles.
The auto parts that comply with the Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada will be exempt from now on the tariffs on cars announced by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, a White House spokesman said.
“Autos that comply with the TMEC will remain tariff free until the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Office of Customs and Border Protection of the United States (CBP), establishes a process to apply tariffs to its non -American content,” said Subsecretary of the White House, Harrison Fields, in X.
Lee: Trump announces tariff up to 25% to imports of cars
The decree indicates that 25% tariffs “will not apply to car parts that qualify for preferential treatment by virtue of the TMEC”, until the authorities establish a process to “apply the tariff exclusively to the value of the non -American content of said pieces.”
The Trump administration did not indicate this Wednesday when the process could be ready to distinguish the non -American content from the parties.
With respect to cars manufactured in Mexico and Canada and exported to the US, the law decree establishes that importers will have to identify “the value of the US content in each imported model”.
“It is understood by ‘American content’ the value of the car attributable to the pieces obtained entirely, produced in its entirety or substantially transformed into the United States,” the decree specified.
Once that content is determined, the 25% tariff will be applied “exclusively to the value of the non -American content of the vehicle.”
‘It will be difficult to determine what is done in the US’
“This can take several months, because there are parts that cross the border several times and it will not be easy to determine what is done in the United States,” said the director of Economic Analysis of the Base Financial Group, Gabriela Siller.
He added that if the cars exported from Mexico to the US under the TMEC will be exempt from the tariff for now, the affectation on the Mexican economy will not be so serious.
“Obviously there is an affectation for uncertainty but not so much in exports, since 82% of the cars that are exported to the US comply with the TMEC,” he said.
By signing the decree of law in the Oval Office, Trump said the tariffs, which will enter into force on April 2, can report to the US between 600,000 million dollars and the billion in the next two years.
Siller recalled that automotive exports are key to the economic growth of Mexico. Based on US Trade data, the analyst stated that 27% of Mexico’s exports to the United States are automotive and explained 7.38% of national GDP in 2024.
He added that only tourism type cars and for passenger transport represent 9.83% of the total exports of Mexico to the United States and represent 2.61% of Mexico’s GDP.
He recalled that according to the TMEC, the companies of the automotive sector have until July 1 to comply with the regional content rule of 75%, since on that date the transition regime applicable to exports of the sector expires.
He anticipated that due to the above, it is likely that in the coming months compliance with the TMEC of the automotive exports of Mexico to the United States rises above 90%.
Trump criticizes European manufacturers
The US president was especially critical of European manufacturers.
“We bought millions and millions of his cars, from BMW, from Volkswagen, from Mercedes-Benz, and they have non-monetary tariffs that make it almost impossible that we can sell a car in Europe,” said the Republican.
“The European Union treats us horrible in commerce,” Trump concluded.
With information from Reuters and EFE
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