- Trump hinted at new tariffs targeting cars, pharmaceuticals, lumber, and semiconductors.
- The timing and specifics of these tariffs remain unclear, despite repeated mentions.
- Markets rose as officials suggested the new tariffs might not roll out immediately.
President Donald Trump, during a Cabinet meeting on Monday, hinted that more tariffs are coming—this time aimed at cars, pharmaceuticals, and a handful of other industries. The announcement, though not entirely clear on timing or scope, suggests the administration is gearing up for another round of economic saber-rattling.
“We’ll be announcing cars very shortly,” Trump said, almost offhandedly, while seated with top officials. “We already announced steel… and aluminum,” he added, as if ticking items off a mental list.
Then came another tease: “We’ll be announcing pharmaceuticals at some point,” he said. “Because we have to have pharmaceuticals.” Whatever that meant exactly—it didn’t come with much detail.
Trump, never one to shy away from repetition, doubled down a moment later. “So we’ll be announcing some of these things in the very near future—not the long future, the very near future,” he clarified, in typical Trumpian fashion.
Later that same day, while speaking at a different event—this time in the White House—he tossed in a few more industries.
“There’ll be some additional tariffs in the next few days… on automobiles, cars… and maybe a little bit with lumber down the road. Lumber and chips,” he said. Chips, presumably, meaning semiconductors—not snacks (though with Trump, you never know).
It’s still unclear when these new tariffs might take effect. The much-talked-about reciprocal tariffs are already set to begin on April 2, but whether these fresh, industry-specific ones will be bundled in or rolled out separately—well, that part’s murky.
Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House was leaning toward leaving those sector-specific tariffs out of the April 2 batch, even though Trump had kinda made it sound like everything would hit at once.
The comments came just hours after Trump also dropped a surprise: a proposed 25% tariff on all countries that buy oil and gas from Venezuela. That one caught a few folks off guard.
“We’ve been ripped off by every country in the world,” Trump said during the meeting. A classic line at this point.
He circled back to the car thing again—“And we’ll be announcing cars very shortly”—as if repeating it would somehow clear things up.
Meanwhile, a White House official told CNBC earlier in the day that nothing’s set in stone. “May happen, may not,” the official said, staying vague. “No final decision’s been made as far as sectoral being tacked onto reciprocal.” (Yes, that was the exact phrasing.)
Markets, interestingly, seemed to like the ambiguity. Stocks popped on the news that Trump might be backing off a bit on the tariff front—though no one’s holding their breath.
CNBC reached back out for clarification after Trump’s comments. So far? No additional response.
