Trump announces 25% tariffs on all cars not made in the U.S.

All foreign-made cars entering the U.S. market will face a 25-percent tariff starting early next month.

Kim Bo-kyoung reports.

U.S President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday, local time, to impose a 25-percent tariff on cars from overseas.

The tariffs will go into effect on April 2nd the day Washington is expected to announce wide-ranging levies on other goods from around the world. It will apply to finished cars and trucks that are shipped into the United States.

This follows Trump's 25-percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which went effect on March 12th.

While saying this executive order is going to lead to tremendous growth in the automobile industry, he added many foreign car companies that already have factories in the U.S. would be able to expand their currently-low utilization rate, cheaply and quickly.

"But this is very exciting to me. This is the automobile industry. And this will continue to spur growth like you haven't seen before.

Inevitably, the tariff plan will significantly impact South Korea, which is the third-largest car importer to the U.S. following Mexico and Japan.

In 2024, South Korea's automobile exports to the U.S. amounted to around 34-billion U.S. dollars, about 51 trillion Korean won accounting for more than 49-percent of the total automobile exports.

Amid such tariff pressure, Hyundai Motor Group has come up with a strategy to overcome this by expanding local production in the U.S.

On Monday, it announced an investment of worth 21 billion U.S. dollars in the U.S. over the next four years,

including a plan for Hyundai Steel to build a new plant in Louisiana, which is set to supply steel for Hyundai's auto parts and auto plants in Alabama and Georgia.

Kim Bo-kyoung, Arirang News.