Commerce secretary says it "would be fair" for auto tariffs on Japan, Korea and Germany to take effect April 2

 

Workers assemble cars at the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany on March 7. 

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Friday that car tariffs on Japan, Korea and Germany “would be fair.”

“That would be fair, right? If you’re going to tariff cars from anywhere, it’s got to be tariff cars from everywhere,” Lutnick said when asked by Fox’s Maria Bartiromo if tariffs on cars will go into effect on April 2 on those countries.

“That’s the whole point, it’s bring it home,” Lutnick said. “Don’t make it so that Japan has an unfair advantage over Korea or Germany or anywhere. The idea is, Donald Trump is focused on fairness.”

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump backed down from an extraordinary trade war escalation that had threatened a massive surge in tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

However, he threatened to “substantially” increase tariffs on cars coming into the United States from Canada starting on April 2.

The president said those autos tariffs “will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada. Those cars can easily be made in the USA!”