President Donald Trump has ramped up trade war fears after revealing he plans to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imported cars, pharmaceuticals and semiconductor chips.

Trump has long railed against what he calls the unfair treatment of US automotive exports in foreign markets and last Friday vowed to impose levies ‘in the neighborhood of 25 per cent’ on imported vehicles.

He then revealed Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that sectoral tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductor chips would also start at ’25 per cent or higher’, rising substantially over the course of a year.  Trump said the automotive tariffs could come as soon as April 2, the day after members of his cabinet are due to deliver reports to him outlining options for a range of import duties as he seeks to reshape global trade. 

He did not provide a date for announcing the pharma and tech industry duties, and said he wanted to provide some time for drug and chip makers to set up US factories so that they can avoid tariffs. 

Trump said he expected some of the biggest companies in the world to announce new investments in the US in the next couple of weeks. He provided no further details. 

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