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President Donald Trump and Howard Lutnick in the Oval Office on Feb. 10. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)

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President Donald Trump is set to announce changes to the tariffs on Canada and Mexico he slapped on earlier this week, with potential relief for automobiles and other sectors, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said March 5.

“What he is thinking about is which sections of the market that can maybe — maybe he’ll consider giving them relief,” Lutnick said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. While some categories will be left with the 25% tariff hike, some will be left out. “It could well be autos, it could be others as well” that get relief, he said.

Lutnick emphasized that the current tariff measures are related to the effort to curb the influx of the fentanyl drug, with a separate and broader set of trade actions coming next month. He suggested that the broader review, due April 2, could incorporate goods that get relief March 6.

“There are going to be tariffs — let’s be clear — but what he’s thinking about is which sections of the market that maybe he’ll consider giving them relief until we get to, of course, April 2,” Lutnick said. “I think it is going to be in the middle somewhere.”

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said President Donald Trump might consider giving Canada and Mexico some relief on tariffs, aiming to end up “somewhere in the middle” with a decision due later this afternoon — Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV)

The announcement will come “this afternoon,” he said. The administration will consider providing relief by lowering the levels of the tariffs for specific products that are compliant with regulations under the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated in his first term with Canada and Mexico, according to the Commerce chief.

He added that his “understanding” is that the big-three U.S. automakers — Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and the Stellantis NV-owned Chrysler brand — are compliant with USMCA rules.

Carmaker shares climbed after Lutnick’s remarks, with GM rising more than 5% in premarket trading in New York. Ford was up about 2% and Stellantis climbed about 7% in European trading.

In February, 24% of GDP contracted, down from 43% in previous month. Share of GDP with a PMI® at 45% or lower (a good barometer of sector weakness) was just 2%, following 8% in January. Ten of 18 industries reported growth. — Dan Zeiger (@ZeigerDan)

Lutnick dismissed recent economic data that some analysts said reflected a negative impact on business and consumer confidence from Trump’s trade and other measures.

“You are looking at data that is Biden data,” he said. Former President Joe Biden left Trump “a lousy economy he’s trying to fix,” he said.

U.S. manufacturing edged toward stagnation this month as orders and employment contracted, an Institute for Supply Management release showed on March 3. After Lutnick spoke, ADP Research reported that hiring at U.S. companies slowed in February to the slowest pace since July.

Lutnick pointed to recent announcements by companies including Apple Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to invest billions of dollars in the U.S. as signs that Trump’s policies are stoking confidence, rather than sowing uncertainty in the business community.

“You see the investments, there’s trillions of dollars of manufacturing moving to America, that means the cavalry is coming,” he said.

Written by Stephanie Lai, Enda Curran and Josh Wingrove