Trump updates: US president announces 25-percent auto tariffs

Thank you for joining Al Jazeera for coverage of day 66 of Donald Trump’s second term as US president.

Learn more about the latest leaks from a private Signal chat where government officials discussed the bombing of Yemen here.

You can also learn more about the deaths of four US service members in Lithuania with this story.

And catch up with the latest as the US attempts to negotiate peace in Ukraine here.

• US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order unveiling a new slate of 25-percent tariffs, this time on foreign-made automobiles, slated to take effect on April 2.
• Experts, however, warned that the tariffs could drive up car prices for US consumers and harm an domestic car-manufacturing industry that is interwoven with factories in Canada and Mexico.
• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has responded that the tariffs represent a “direct attack” on his country’s workers and that further retaliatory tariffs are likely.
• The Atlantic magazine has published a fuller account of the sensitive military information released in a Signal chat earlier this month, showing Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posting the timing for specific bombings against Houthi targets in Yemen.
• Democrats and some Republicans have called for accountability in the Signal chat leak, warning that the released information could have put US lives at risk.
• Trump, however, has continued to defend his administration, calling the outrage over the incident a “witch-hunt”.
•  Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has travelled to El Salvador to inspect the maximum-security prison where Venezuelans deported from the US are being held.
• A Tufts University doctoral student has been detained and threatened with deportation for pro-Palestinian advocacy, after writing an op-ed in her student newspaper.

There have been conflicting reports about whether auto parts would be subject to the 25-percent tariffs that Trump has announced for April 2.

On the social media platform X, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields indicated that auto parts that comply with the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement would not be subject to import duties for the time being.

“USMCA-compliant automobile parts will remain tariff-free until the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with US Customs and Border Protection [CBP], establishes a process to apply tariffs to their non-US content,” Fields wrote.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expresses disappointment over Trump’s announcement of auto tariffs.

“I deeply regret the US decision to impose tariffs on EU automotive exports,” she said in a social media post. “Tariffs are taxes – bad for businesses, worse for consumers, in the US and the EU. The EU will continue to seek negotiated solutions, while safeguarding its economic interests.”

After signing the 25-percent auto tariffs, Trump has once again waded into the controversy surrounding the discussion of a bombing campaign in Yemen on the social media platform Signal.

A reporter asked Trump who was responsible for having the sensitive conversation on the app, and Trump replied by pointing to his national security adviser, Michael Waltz.

“He claimed responsibility. I would imagine it had nothing to do with anyone else. It was Mike, I guess. I was told it was Mike,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

He also defended Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who posted the timings of the bombing campaign on the group chat, which was seen by a reporter.

“He had nothing to do with this. How do you bring Hegseth into it? He had nothing to do. Look, look, it’s all a witch hunt,” Trump said.

Democrats have called for Hegseth to resign, accusing the defence secretary of lying when he denied that any classified information had been shared in the chat.

As he signed a new executive order unveiling 25-percent tariffs on foreign-made automobiles and parts, Trump was asked whether or not his close adviser Elon Musk had weighed in on the decision.

“No, because he may have a conflict, so we don’t talk. I’ve never talked to him,” Trump replied.

Musk is the founder of the electric car company Tesla. Trump proceeded to praise the billionaire entrepreneur.

“Elon’s amazing. He’s never asked me for a favour in business whatsoever. I’m actually a little surprised by it. I might do it, I might not do it,” Trump continued. “I do what’s right, and he’d want me to do what’s right.”

Trump added that the tariffs could even be good for Musk’s Tesla plants.

“It could be a net neutral or they may be good,” he said. “ He has a big plant in Texas. He has a big plant in California. And anybody that has plants in the United States, it’s gonna be good for, in my opinion.”

While Trump’s plans for sweeping tariffs have been viewed with apprehension by many financial analysts, the president’s announcement of 25-percent import taxes on cars is poised to hit an industry that has become particularly reliant on free trade between the US, Mexico and Canada.

According to the libertarian Cato Institute, a US-based think tank that supports free markets, auto supply chains are so integrated between the three countries that components such as engines and transmissions can cross borders between seven and eight times during the production process.

The institute says that 54 percent of all car parts and bodies come into the US from Mexico and Canada.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says she visited a mega-prison in El Salvador where the administration has been sending undocumented migrants accused of being members of criminal groups such as Tren de Aragua, often with little to no evidence.

Noem said in a social media post that she was visiting the facility to see where the “worst-of-the-worst criminals are housed”.

But legal representatives for immigrants sent to El Salvador’s prison system – known for allegations of abysmal conditions, abuse and in-custody deaths – say they have no connection to any criminal activity.

The US investigative news outlet Mother Jones reported on Wednesday that one man sent to the facility in El Salvador was detained because he had a tattoo that is a symbol for autism awareness. That tattoo reportedly was used as evidence of possible gang affiliation.

At the White House event celebrating Women’s History Month, Trump underscored the number of women in his administration and said he would champion women’s rights.

“We’re protecting women’s rights, defending women’s dignity and standing up for the American moms and daughters. So many are represented here. Great people in this room,” Trump said.

“American women have never had bigger champions than all of us in the White House. I mean, it’s me, but it’s the group of men and women.”

But what does Trump’s cabinet look like? The president has indeed increased the number of women in his inner circle since his first term.

The Washington Post reported that 17 percent of Trump’s first-term cabinet were women. This term, 37.5 percent of his cabinet is female: Nine of the 24 cabinet seats are occupied by women.

Only four cabinet seats, meanwhile, are represented by people of colour.

Trump continues to reflect on his path to re-election, thanking the attendees present at a Women’s History Month event for catapulting him to a second term.

“ Thank you for the vote. You were very nice to me,” Trump said from the podium.

An exit poll from The Associated Press found that Trump’s 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, had a slight edge over him, earning 53 percent of the female vote to Trump’s 46 percent.

But Trump nevertheless touted his gains in the category.

“In the recent election, we did fantastically well with women. I kept hearing, ‘Women don’t like him.’ I said, ‘I think they do.’ Fake polls don’t like me. That’s who don’t like me,” Trump said.

“I was for the women, the suburban housewife, where I stopped low-income housing projects were being built at a house next to you, where people were being decimated.”

The AP’s exit poll likewise found that 42 percent of suburban woman backed Trump, compared with 56 percent for Harris.

The crowd at the event rumbled awkwardly as Trump continued, “We’re gonna have tremendous, tremendous goodies in the bag for women too, the women, between the fertilisation and all of the other things that we’re talking about. It’s going to be great.”

Trump, however, embraced the moment. “I don’t care. I’ll be known as the fertilisation president. That’s not bad. I’ve been called much worse.”

It’s now 5pm in Washington, DC (21:00 GMT). Here is a recap of the latest developments:

• Democrats have continued to attack the Trump administration for its use of the messaging app Signal to discuss a recent bombing campaign in Yemen.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio has acknowledged in an interview that someone made a “big mistake” by adding a journalist to the Signal chat.
• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says that Trump will announce new tariffs targeting automotive production later today, a development that has been viewed with apprehension by many experts and industry leaders.
• In a speech marking Women’s History Month, Trump railed against transgender people and the “Marxist war on women”.
• In those remarks, the US president also proudly stated that universities are “bending” to his demands to crack down on pro-Palestine activism.

Trump boasts that pressure by his administration on universities and law firms have resulted in capitulation to demands and policies sought by the president and his allies, such as restrictions on pro-Palestine protests and greater control over university curricula.

“You see what we’re doing with the colleges, and they’re all bending and saying, ‘Sir, thank you very much,'” said Trump.

“Nobody can believe it. Law firms, which have been so horrible, they’re just saying, ‘Where do I sign? Where do I sign?’ and there’s more coming,” he added.

In recent days, Trump has retooled a term from the campaign trail to refer to his imposition of new tariffs on foreign countries: Liberation Day.

“All documentation will be signed and registered, and the Tariff will take place on April 2nd, 2025, LIBERATION DAY IN AMERICA,” he said in a social media post on Monday.

Throughout his political career, trade deals and immigration may be the two issues that Trump has attacked most frequently.

While they may seem unconnected at first glance, Trump sees both as a symptom of the same problem: a once-powerful country weakened and taken advantage of both at home and abroad.

On the campaign trail, Trump frequently intoned that US communities had been “invaded” and “occupied” by immigrants, and promised that his return to the White House would bring “liberation”.

“We will be the envy of every nation and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer,” he said in remarks during his inauguration.

“For American citizens, January 20, 2025, is liberation day,” he added.

Later today, Trump is expected to announce tariffs on automobile imports.

The topic appeared to be on his mind at a Women’s History Month event at the White House, as he shifted from addressing the “Marxist war on women” to talking economics.

“We have Liberation Day in America,” Trump said, using a term he has used for April 2, the day his “reciprocal tariffs” come into effect.

“That’s where we take back all of this money that’s been ripped off from us for so many decades. And we start a process. We’re going to go with the tariffs on cars.”

He credited his tariff campaign with bringing $5 trillion worth of foreign investments into the US: “They’re all coming in so they don’t have to pay tariffs.”

But critics warn that the tariffs could result in higher costs for US consumers — and that the resulting trade war with foreign countries could help fuel a recession.

The messaging app has released a statement pushing back against claims that it is not secure after the leaks.

Signal also rejected media reporting citing a Pentagon memo that said the app has “vulnerabilities”.

“The memo used the term ‘vulnerability’ in relation to Signal – but it had nothing to do with Signal’s core tech. It was warning against phishing scams targeting Signal users,” the company said yesterday.

“Phishing isn’t new, and it’s not a flaw in our encryption or any of Signal’s underlying technology. Phishing attacks are a constant threat for popular apps and websites.”

The messaging platform described itself as “the gold standard for private, secure communications”.