MIRIAM NNOLI 
The United States (US) President, Donald Trump, has announced steep tariffs on auto imports and parts, provoking threats of retaliation from trading partners ahead of further promised trade levies next week.
New Telegraph gathered that the duties take effect at 12:01 am (0401 GMT) on April 3 and impact foreign-made cars and light trucks. Key automobile parts will also be hit within the month.
“What we’re going to be doing is a 25 per cent tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States,” Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office.
The move even appeared to raise eyebrows from Trump ally and Tesla boss, Elon Musk, who said the cost impact of the tariffs on his firm’s cars was not trivial.
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Peter Navarro, Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, in a briefing after Trump’s announcement, blasted foreign trade cheaters who, he said, turned America’s manufacturing sector into a lower wage assembly operation for foreign parts.
He aimed at Germany and Japan for reserving the construction of higher-value parts to their countries.
Reacting to the announcement, Japan’s government described the tariff as extremely regrettable, while Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tokyo was considering all kinds of countermeasures.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney branded Trump’s tariffs a direct attack on his country’s workers and said the cabinet would meet on Thursday, March 27, to discuss retaliation.
Correspondingly, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his country cannot stand still in response to the levies.
