President Trump said on Wednesday that he would pause tariffs on cars coming into the United States from Canada and Mexico for one month, after a 25 percent tariff that he placed on America’s closest trading partners a day earlier roiled stock markets and prompted stiff resistance from industry.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, read a statement from Mr. Trump on Wednesday saying that White House had spoken with the three largest auto makers, and that a one-month exemption would be given to cars coming in through United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
“At the request of the companies associated with U.S.M.C.A., the president is giving them an exemption for one month so they are not at an economic disadvantage,” the statement said. The three automakers that Mr. Trump spoke with were General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis.
Asked why Mr. Trump granted only a one-month reprieve, Ms. Leavitt said the president expected the automakers to move production back to the United States. The message, she said, was to “get on it, start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America where they will pay no tariffs.”
The decision came after Mr. Trump hosted a conference call Tuesday with Mary T. Barra, the chief executive of General Motors; John Elkann, the chairman of Stellantis; William C. Ford, the chairman of Ford Motor; and Jim Farley, Ford’s chief executive, according to a person briefed on the call.
The executives told the president that putting tariffs on cars and parts from Canada and Mexico would effectively erase all of their companies’ profits by imposing billions of dollars of new costs on them, the person said. They asserted that cars built in those countries supported jobs in the United States at parts factories, dealers and other related businesses.